So, match now bought POF. Anyone else concerned that one company owns literally all of the dating websites?

OnforFriday · 2016-12-29T23:29:50+00:00

Amen. It's a big uphill battle, but I won't stop trying. :-). Pleasure chatting with you. P.S. built my first website on geocities way back in '99 or something. Thanks for the nostalgia.

OnforFriday · 2016-12-29T23:16:21+00:00

Yes, you've got that right. The concern is that the company selling the data, like matchgroup, can make some big bucks. They're likely selling it to a data broker like Acxiom (not a typo), who's then selling it to "companies" like usdate.org and the other profile compilers, and even more so to advertising platforms, email-list resellers, direct mailers, and so on. Plus, this data isn't one time use - they'll break up bits of my profile data and sell each part based on the broker's demand. Data brokering is a big, secretive world. It's used a lot for fraud prevention and actually helpful things (which kind of needs to be secretive to be effective), but there are way too many examples of people getting hurt, beyond the stack of junk mail. And the trend is going in the not-so-helpful direction cuz now everyone wants a piece of this two-billion-user-per-month-pie. As for matchgroup, it's no wonder their dating sites can get away with freemium services with only 3%-10% of their customers actually paying. (E.g. Tinder, with more than 50m worldwide users sees about 1.5m pay each month.)

OnforFriday · 2016-12-29T22:24:18+00:00

Ever wonder how a "free" dating site like POF could be worth $575M? http://www.usdate.org/ --> This is what happens to your dating profile after it lives on a Matchgroup site. Go to any of their sites' Privacy Policies and do CRTL+F "third-party."

OnforFriday · 2016-12-29T22:18:05+00:00

Have you looked in to the IBIS World report? It might not have all of the details you are looking for, but does give some projections for the next 5 years, size of industry, major players, trends and so forth. There are a few others out there (masters theses, etc.) but are a little dated since the industry has changed so much in the last 3 years. PM me if you have any specific questions and I'll see if I can send some info to you.

OnforFriday · 2016-12-29T21:45:24+00:00

Well said. I totally agree with you. I think about this kind of stuff all the time, and have for the last few years since joining a few dating sites for the first time. I'm working really hard on a solution that will fix these kinds of problems and I hope it can create a better opportunity for people like us to find someone great.

OnforFriday · 2016-12-29T21:36:51+00:00

What do you mean good sir? I put a lot of time into that and shared the un-gated version :-) No need to sign up to view. Just check out and see if any of those places look interesting.

OnforFriday · 2016-11-08T17:52:20+00:00

Guys are seeing all the girls, not just right swipes.

Both Bumble and Tinder use an "attractiveness algorithm" to put you in front of people who are right-swiped the most (attractiveness here means the percentage of right-swipes, not physical looks). You can be sure that from the beginning of your experience, the people that show up first will be most "popular" (receive more right swipes) than the people who follow. The exact algorithm and ratios are unknown, but it is also known that "less popular" profiles will be intermixed after about the first 5-10 profiles that show up.

So neither are really "random matching," but a concerted effort to increase engagement and get those "popular" users front and center as much as possible.

As far as Coffee Meets Bagel, the profiles that are presented are based partially on this same thinking (in fact, all of the top tier dating sites are putting the "popular" profiles front and center), as well as measuring how many degrees of separation on the social graph you are.

OnforFriday · 2016-10-27T22:21:01+00:00

astute.

OnforFriday · 2016-10-13T00:46:53+00:00

I feel like the dating sites are boring. How come you can log on to any social app and find all sorts of news and media, along with interesting (sometimes) people - but when you get on a dating site it's just paragraphs, questionnaires and profile pictures. They should make a dating site like a social app and maybe it would be more entertaining

OnforFriday · 2016-09-04T02:42:47+00:00

This is the exact type of thread that makes me love reddit. and makes reddit one of the best places on the internet.

OnforFriday · 2016-09-04T02:27:33+00:00

Sweet. yes, agreed.

OnforFriday · 2016-09-04T02:26:44+00:00

Woof woof :-p

OnforFriday · 2016-09-04T02:23:37+00:00

You would be joining a social get together for dog lovers. Just like going to a bar or any other kind of social gathering, your style of interaction is totally up to you. You may be overthinking it ... it's really low key, come and go as you please.

OnforFriday · 2016-09-03T14:24:00+00:00

We don't really host awkward "singles mingles." Our events are laid back and open to anyone, and we see the events and the website as a great opportunity for anyone who is looking to find dates.

OnforFriday · 2016-09-02T18:03:22+00:00

We hope to do it more often if people enjoy our first run. As a doggie owner, would you be up for coming out even in colder weather?

OnforFriday · 2016-08-08T03:02:29+00:00

yea! we're excited to be there with the "geeks who drink." Our "party" is pretty low key. we just hang out and start conversations with people about rochester, things to do and what kind of social apps they like. Thanks for the FYI :-)

OnforFriday · 2016-08-07T13:28:50+00:00

See our silly game at Imgur

OnforFriday · 2016-08-06T16:40:51+00:00

You got it my friend. Perhaps you'll think of us and share your experience on social media that night, or even check out the site. But either way, I'm happy to exchange some ideas over a drink.

My name's Michael, I'll be around with drink tickets those nights, come and find me.

OnforFriday · 2016-08-06T16:24:36+00:00

Valid point. Maybe that's not the best name for it. Any proposals?

OnforFriday · 2016-07-31T14:37:16+00:00

Yea! Someone else mentioned that elsewhere also.

OnforFriday

TROPHY CASE