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OKCupid experiments with 'bad' dating matches
bbc.com ^ | 29 July 2014 Last updated at 10:47 ET

Posted on 07/29/2014 5:11:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Dating website OKCupid has revealed that it experimented on its users, including putting the "wrong" people together to see if they would connect.

It revealed the tests after the uproar over Facebook manipulating the feeds of its users.

"If you use the internet, you're the subject of hundreds of experiments at any given time, on every site," it said. "That's how websites work."

OKCupid said one revelation was that "people just look at the picture".

As well as allowing users to upload pictures and set up dating profiles, OKCupid asks users questions and matches them with potential partners based on the answers.

In one experiment, the site took pairs of "bad" matches between two people - about 30% - and told them they were "exceptionally good" for each other, or 90% matches. "Not surprisingly, the users sent more first messages when we said they were compatible," Christian Rudder, one of the founders of OKCupid, said in a blog post on the company's research and insights blog.

Further experiments suggested that "when we tell people they are a good match, they act as if they are. Even when they should be wrong for each other."

...

In another experiment, OKCupid ran profiles with pictures and no profile text for half of its test subjects, and vice versa for the rest. The results showed that people responded solely to the pictures. For potential daters, Mr Rudder said that "your actual words are worth… almost nothing".

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: singles
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1 posted on 07/29/2014 5:11:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

This is fraud. They promised to provide compatible matches and apparently took money for it.


2 posted on 07/29/2014 5:14:53 PM PDT by mkmensinger
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To: BenLurkin

Aww who hasn’t.


3 posted on 07/29/2014 5:20:24 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin.)
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To: BenLurkin
The only people that go to and use these dating/match sites are losers and perverts, anyway.

Much ado about nothing.

4 posted on 07/29/2014 5:24:26 PM PDT by OldSmaj (obama is a worthless mohametan. Impeach his ass now!)
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To: BenLurkin

No wonder. I want my Cow, Pig, and goat back but they won’t have me.


5 posted on 07/29/2014 5:25:39 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: BenLurkin

I bet the same sort of thing happens with the administrators of ObamaCare.


6 posted on 07/29/2014 5:29:07 PM PDT by Steely Tom (How do you feel about robbing Peter's robot?)
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To: BenLurkin

What could go wrong?! /sarc


7 posted on 07/29/2014 5:36:16 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: OldSmaj

And I suppose you are saying this from personal knowledge?


8 posted on 07/29/2014 5:37:52 PM PDT by Shimmer1 (Ok, the joke's over. Bring back the Constitution.)
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To: OldSmaj

I never put my picture online. I really don’t want to meet someone who’s so insecure that they wouldn’t want to meet someone unless they know what they look like.


9 posted on 07/29/2014 5:41:44 PM PDT by grania
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To: mkmensinger

Duh. This is the same scumbag enterprise who got Brendan Eich fired. Zero integrity.


10 posted on 07/29/2014 5:43:48 PM PDT by Viennacon (Barry Obama? No... Barack Hussein Soebarkah.)
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To: OldSmaj

You are a sad person...


11 posted on 07/29/2014 5:44:12 PM PDT by Osage Orange (I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be controlling it.)
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To: BenLurkin

There is a reason the site’s nickname is “OKStupid.”


12 posted on 07/29/2014 5:51:57 PM PDT by RebelBanker (May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.)
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To: Osage Orange
You are a sad person...

Because I see these sites for what they are?

The story just told you what they were and how they do the opposite of what they claim!

Fer cryin' out loud, who in their right mind needs to shop the internet for a "compatible" companion?

And no, I'm not sad...quite happy, in fact, since I've never fallen for any of that crap, nor needed it, being happily married for decades, with children that have been happily married for...well, long times, too.

Anybody that uses Facebook or goes to "compatibility" sites to meet their "soul" mate...they are the unhappy ones.

As well as being a loser or a pervert.

13 posted on 07/29/2014 5:55:49 PM PDT by OldSmaj (obama is a worthless mohametan. Impeach his ass now!)
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To: BenLurkin

'I foresee cancellations, angry emails and falling revenue in your future.'

14 posted on 07/29/2014 5:56:38 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: BenLurkin

For men, online dating does not work unless you’re an Abercrombie & Fitch model.


15 posted on 07/29/2014 5:57:45 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: BenLurkin

Is okcupid only for gays?


16 posted on 07/29/2014 6:01:15 PM PDT by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: Shimmer1
And I suppose you are saying this from personal knowledge?

No.

I put my money into my relationship with my wife and my time on the internet with the (mostly) good souls on Free Republic and a few other conservative sites.

I have no use for Facebook, Twitter or any of the "match" sites.

I will not argue that at one time, very early in the internet age, that there did exist a few meet and greet sites that were legitimate and did not provide loser and pervert refuges.

Sadly, that is no more.

And if you could get beyond your snarkiness, you would see it, too.

The sites hurt much more than they help.

17 posted on 07/29/2014 6:01:31 PM PDT by OldSmaj (obama is a worthless mohametan. Impeach his ass now!)
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To: OldSmaj
Fer cryin' out loud, who in their right mind needs to shop the internet for a "compatible" companion?

I did. Worked out absolutely perfect for me.
18 posted on 07/29/2014 6:05:49 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Uninstall Fascist Firefox. Get Pale Moon.)
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To: OldSmaj
Well pal...you just called my youngest girl and her now husband... loser's and perverts.

They are both professionals and met on FB...

Congrats on being an ass.........

19 posted on 07/29/2014 6:09:03 PM PDT by Osage Orange (I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be controlling it.)
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To: RandallFlagg
I did. Worked out absolutely perfect for me.

Then I am truly glad for you and I say that without reservation.

May I ask, has this been a recent occurrence or was it more in the infancy of the internet, when it wasn't full of trolls, Ponzi architects, sexual predators and just general low lifes, like it is now?

And again, I mean no snark or sarcasm...because I feel strongly that there is a certain element lurking that has seized upon the anonymity of the internet and pretty damned much ruined any real honesty and trust there was.

20 posted on 07/29/2014 6:11:44 PM PDT by OldSmaj (obama is a worthless mohametan. Impeach his ass now!)
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