Watching the meme grow by leaps and bounds

[gement]

So, I've gotten really obsessed with the OK Cupid "dating" site, not for its dating aspects, as I'm well booked on that count, but for its exhaustively analytical algorithm. It asks smart questions about people and draws smart conclusions from them. My "top matches" are at least 75% people that I'd like to at least hang out with.

I don't seem to be the only one in this boat, as the site growth is literally exponential over the course of the last week. It's packed with intelligent geeks who like answering questions about themselves and starting interesting conversations. Also, I found this stat fascinating:

39% Males          60% Females
3% Gay Males       2% Gay Females
3% Bi Males        16% Bi Females

There are a profound number of sexy intelligent geek women signing on to this site. Anyone who's looking for those... check it out. (The site is still in beta, so there's occasional but brief downtime and they still haven't added all the features, such as flexible location searching.)

Comments

Re:

[gement.livejournal.com]

That... is both really interesting and really unusual. Almost all the test takers I know felt their results pegged them to a tee. It sounds terribly apologist, but I wonder if they've got a system bug today. Their question engine is broken, and maybe that involves their quiz analysis engine.

You got the Sudden Departure, which... wow, yeah, sounds nothing like someone with a life long dating history of TWO. You may be so strange that you broke the system, but I doubt it. I'm certain it's not the poly thing. I'm poly and so are most of my matches, and we're coming up Maids of Honor and Gentlemen all over the place.

By the way, the much more accurate matching system is inside the site, and not actually related to the quiz. You get to rank how important it is that a potential partner answers each question the way you want them to (which is not necessarily the same as your own answer). It's brutally effective at weeding out people you have nothing in common with.

Re:

[drascus.livejournal.com]

It really has been a beautiful system for me so far. Of course, I have a somewhat more normal dating history, but still, I've done the odd "ungentlemanly" thing in my life and I still got Gentleman as a result. It could be the system is broken, or it could be a data set outside the algorithem's bounds.

Either way, it's not perfect, but it's far and away the best matching system I've ever seen.

[tithonium.livejournal.com]

Well, you're currently listed 4th on my world matches page.

I came back as The Vapor Trail, Random Brutal Love Master. Uh..

"can be highly charismatic"?
"know how to handle yourself in a relationship"?!?

Riiiiight.

Re: RBLM

[gement.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Vapor Trail = RBLM = Sudden Departure. I'm starting to see a theme here. I wonder if the quiz defaults to RBLM in case of error.

And duh, you're charismatic. Observe swarm of women. Draw own conclusions.

Re: RBLM

[tithonium.livejournal.com]

I think that has less to do with charisma and more to do with merely being cute and in the right place at the right time. ::)

Re: RBLM

[gement.livejournal.com]

Um... I know you're from another planet and all, but exactly what did you think human women considered cute?

Re: RBLM

[tithonium.livejournal.com]

My eyes? My glasses? My smirk? My rapidly receeding hai...no.

[mp-reyart.livejournal.com]

Well, you wanted to know what I've been up to of late. You're more than welcome to dig into the past year or so on my LJ since half of the past year or more is friends only, and I put you on my friends list. It's been too fast for words, really.

-M.P.

[samvimes.livejournal.com]

Howdy. ATM, you come up #14 on my list of World Matches.

I find it an interesting site, too... especially the fact that it keeps turning up polyfolk, although I've yet to come across any question that actually asks if you're poly. Polyfolk must all answer the same way on questions relating to jealousy, cheating, etc., and rank their importance as high, so that it falls out of the system naturally.

And, yes, I was pegged as the Gentleman, and all three of my sweeties came out The Maid of Honor.

Perhaps more amazing, at least to me, is that I've been contacted by a few women. That doesn't happen on most dating sites; the women generally sign up, and wait to get deluged with date offers from the men. A man who signs on and contacts nobody is generally greeted with the sound of silence.

If I weren't already booked up, I think I'd actually be relying on this site to find new people to date. As it is, it appeals to my geek-sense, and it's caused me to add a few people to my LJ friends list.