Isn't the entire point of the profile and matching system to filter incompatible people out? Why can I match with 50 people and not a single one wants to get a coffee or something after exchanging a few pleasantries? Everybody hates these things and yet they refuse to do anything IRL to get off them. Is there some Manchurian candidate activation codeword that I'm missing? I feel like everyone treats this shit solely as an ego booster and actually gets pissed off that anyone tries to interact with them. How do you meet people in hellworld if you don't drink?

Me after dozens of dead-end back-and-forths that lead to nowhere despite having shared interests and presumably being attracted to each other since we matched: marx-joker

Hmm, maybe it's the extreme commodification of relationships and atomization under capitalism that prevents you from getting anywhere with this garbage thinkin-lenin

Nope, must be because @SuperZutsuki@hexbear.net didn't say my favorite "The Office" quote and send me a playlist with 50 of the greatest songs I've never heard that made me instantly fall in love with them. I have no idea what other people expect from these things but I'm not doing labor for someone that I don't even know is real. Thanks for reading my rant, any advice is appreciated.

  • Findom_DeLuise [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    9 months ago

    It's definitely worse. My spouse and I met via OKCupid in the before-time, before enshittification (and the Match dot com buyout) took hold. We've been together ever since because we're both fuckin' weirdos. Yes, the personality quiz shit was just stripped down Myers-Briggs with a coat of paint, but hey -- some of those scores were great as early warning signs and/or red flags (the not-fun kind). If nothing else, the random questions (and associated match scores) were at least somewhat predictive of whether one might get along with a prospective partner, or if they might have shared interests or views.

    That initial version of the site right after the re-brand from The Spark (2004 to mid-2005) was decent overall, but then they started fucking with the matching algorithm by hiding or skewing results based on attractiveness and so forth. It went from a conversation starter to an incel factory.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Dating sites failing at bringing people together with lasting satisfaction is, I think, working as intended now: repeat customers, pressured to pay more, pretty much forever because even the "premium" matches are clickbait more than satisfaction-driven.

      It's like decades of fast food technology where it's intended to be as unsatisfying as possible while giving little rushes while it's eaten.

    • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      You could actually look through the questions and saw what they answered to see if there were any deal breakers, or deal makers for that matter. You could even get some idea of sexual compatibility early on, even though that's not a first date conversation. It used to be a lot better.

    • StellarTabi [none/use name]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Yes, the personality quiz shit was just stripped down Myers-Briggs with a coat of paint, but hey -- some of those scores were great as early warning signs and/or red flags (the not-fun kind). If nothing else, the random questions (and associated match scores) were at least somewhat predictive of whether one might get along with a prospective partner, or if they might have shared interests or views.

      I think this was actually the best system. Is a better system even possible? Removing it means I have to wade through 100x as many dick pics and manually performed interrogations just to find the non-red-flag.