OkCupid has less-than-OK policies. Especially if you're "ugly."

Post by SapphireSun » Fri, Jun 11, 2010, 12:04 AM UTC

karzeem wrote: post #33

hugh3 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might make sense behind the scenes, but was it a mistake for them to actually tell their users about it? They must have known the uglies would find out about it, so you've gotta balance out the fact that you've just flattered some of your users with the fact that you've insulted the rest. Besides, ugly users are probably a lot more profitable than good-looking ones.

Cutting the userbase sharply in half, with ugly on one side and attractive on the other, is probably a bad way for them to explain it to people. They'd be better off saying something like "we show you other users based on how much you have in common, including age, interests, attractiveness, personality, etc."

Post by ambulatorybird » Fri, Jun 11, 2010, 12:13 AM UTC

w1ntermute wrote: post #38

karzeem wrote: post #4

I'm not quite sure what the problem is. OkCupid's goal is to help its users find dates. People rarely date someone who's very significantly more or less attractive than they are. Directing people to users with whom they're much likelier to find success actually seems quite sensible, not "less than OK".

People rarely date someone who's very significantly more or less attractive than they are. People are also much more likely to date someone of their own race. Should OkCupid segregate by race as well? Oh wait, that's a social taboo, whereas discriminating against the ugly is considered perfectly acceptable.

Post by potatolicious » Fri, Jun 11, 2010, 12:16 AM UTC

qq66 wrote: post #6

twir wrote: post #3

At first I was like, "wow, that's offensive." But then I was like, "damn, how come I didn't get that email too?"

Why is it offensive? Long-term relationships report the highest happiness levels when both partners are of roughly equal attractiveness.

Post by camccann » Fri, Jun 11, 2010, 12:19 AM UTC

steveklabnik wrote: post #34

wzdd wrote: post #29

If I were running that site I would be interested in sending that email to a randomly-selected half the userbase and then seeing if and how they behaved differently on the site. After all, the letter says both that you, personally, are more attractive, but also acts as kind of guarantee that the people you are being matched with are more attractive too. There may be some ethical considerations here of course.

This sounds like something that they'd do. Those guys are serious math nerds. > There may be some ethical considerations here of course. Reading OkTrends, I'm pretty sure they're not worried about it.

Post by steveklabnik » Fri, Jun 11, 2010, 12:33 AM UTC

camccann wrote: post #47

steveklabnik wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like something that they'd do. Those guys are serious math nerds. > There may be some ethical considerations here of course. Reading OkTrends, I'm pretty sure they're not worried about it.

Not that they don't have standards--I'm sure they're very careful not to release anything that would reveal private information about specific, identifiable users. Other than that, yeah. Those guys pretty much do statistics for the lulz. I would not be surprised at all if wzdd turns out to have been correct...