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FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

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Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#91

All of these sites do shady shit. I'm so glad I'm no longer single. I signed up for eHarmony with a unique email address dedicated to that site. After wasting 6 months, I chose to delete my account. Lo and behold, soon spam started to show up on this account, as if the floodgates had been opened. It was a unique account that I had not used anywhere else just for this specific reason, and my hunch was justified.

They were good 15 years ago. As with all things, it went to shit when Match.com started consolidating everything and the bean counters realized that a quality product was not as profitable. Surprised it took this long to get litigation. So many people complaining about how crap dating sites are, but no one thought to realize the site itself was the problem and fell into the whole "looksmaxxing" grift. Some people rea…

My experience was poor more than 15 years ago so ymmv

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#92
post #43

When match was illegally allowed to buy okcupid an then tinder in violation of antitrust laws is when I realized how thoroughly libertarian propaganda has won and is destroying the country. I mean we've now fully legalized gambling and bribery of politicians for the sake of fake freedom. We're cooked.

What are you talking about? Match didn't buy Tinder.

IAC had owned Match.com for a while and then developed Tinder from scratch.

Match didn't buy Tinder. Tinder was always part of the same company from day one.

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you remember the old OkCupid blog they used to post interesting articles about online dating. I know their article about whether you should smile on your profile picture was eventually debunked [1], but it was nonetheless nice to have objective, data-based, non-pua advice on how to be successful in online dating. [1] https://blog.photofeeler.com/okcupid-is-wrong-about-smiling-...

You mistook a marketing effort for science.

There was an actual effort at data science going on here before the marketing team took it over in the latter years. See the published book Dataclysm by one of the founders for more of the good stuff.

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#94
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It used to be that promoters were paid per woman they brought to the club and nothing for men, and they would in turn charge a cover per man. No idea how these businesses operate now. I'm sure there's still sliding scales of sliminess based on the quality of the club and its management.

Aren't they going out of business in large numbers? I'm not sure how much of that has to do with the dating scene as much as it has to do with younger people drinking less though.

I think all attempts to explain "why is failing" that don't come to the conclusion "we're macro-economically cooked" are wrong.

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#95
post #9

I once went on a date with someone who did research at OKCupid who told me that they were doing NLP-style analysis of peoples' messages that they sent to each other. Still not really sure what to think of the date itself, but it was a fucked up admission.

As a former employee, we did do NLP on messages but exclusively to find and suppress spammy/scammy/offensive messages. That system is dead now tho.

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met my current wife on OKC in 2010, before online dating became an utter cesspool. I've been out of the dating scene for 16 years now, but based on what I see on social media, I think online dating sucks today for three reasons. 1. Many men (Not all, but many) are there simply because they want to get laid. They're not looking for a relationship, they're looking for a hook-up, and they're not honest about their int…

> They're in a sticky spot where their most successful customer is one that they will never see another dime from, and there's not really a way around it. naive question: why has no one made an app with the reverse incentive structure? i understand that the current business model is much more lucrative...but i feel like with how fed up people are with the inability of modern online dating to provide quality, long-las…

https://whatsyourprice.com

They used to have a sister site. They had these kind of hilarious animated ads that made the whole thing seem so logical. One ad targeted at women and the other at men, both claiming that money meant you only got serious requests. I wish I could find those ads, they were classic.

--

Found one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFo-da_2rdI

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Found the other: https://vimeo.com/21179683

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#97

I’m almost certain these dating apps, including Hinge and Bumble are creating loads of good-looking fake women profiles to attract male users and keep their platforms “sticky”. There are suspicious telltale signs like location downtown when nobody says they live downtown in my area. The same responses and prompts across multiple profiles. It’s equivalent to them cooking their books, but with vanity metrics.

I don't know. I don't think they need to. There are enough women who love the attention they get on these apps.

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#98
post #43

When match was illegally allowed to buy okcupid an then tinder in violation of antitrust laws is when I realized how thoroughly libertarian propaganda has won and is destroying the country. I mean we've now fully legalized gambling and bribery of politicians for the sake of fake freedom. We're cooked.

What are you talking about? Match didn't buy Tinder. IAC had owned Match.com for a while and then developed Tinder from scratch. Match didn't buy Tinder. Tinder was always part of the same company from day one.

You're right, and you're wrong.

IAC owned both Match and HatchLabs (which developed Tinder in 2012). They were later merged into one entity, and even later spun off from IAC altogether. They were "part of the same company" in that giant mega-corp super conglomerate owned both, but practically they were fully separate entities when Tinder was created. Match didn't buy Tinder, but it was merged with Tinder by parent company, just like OkCupid was acquired by IAC and merged with Match.

Re: FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the point is that people are not successful on these apps because of those expectations. A lot of people have sort of let the whole online dating thing go straight to their head. And now, theyd rather die alone than be slightly uncomfortable for a few minutes.

Why are you guys so concerned with these people? Let them live their lives. I guarantee you they are not dying alone or whatever mortal curse you wish to invoke.

I'm not, was just responding to the apparent frustration and finding people who want expensive dinners dates. If that's not your thing, great, there are people out there who would love a coffee and a walk or whatever. I'm one of them. A formal dinner on a first date sounds awful to my slightly shy and introverted self. I'd much rather go hiking or something.
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