

Gelato brings real-time search to online dating - johnrobertreed
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10358126-52.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

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chasingsparks
I tried -- and failed -- to produce a online dating startup. I spent a lot of
time reading the academic literature on the matter. Here is my summation:

compatibility ~ attraction + age + sex + serendipity

Serendipity is more appropriately called the error term. In my opinion, real-
time news feeds will at best add nothing, if not actually degrading the signal
by adding excess noise. You can't date (i.e. appraise compatibility) online.
You have to date in "real life".

Then again, that was the premise of my startup, and it failed so maybe i
should STFU.

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natrius
I'm more interested in the kind of stuff a person reads on the internet. If
you read similar topics, we're going to have a lot of stuff to talk about,
which is attractive to me. There are tons of people on dating sites who I am
attracted to and are around my age. You need a filter, and similar interests
are easier to express implicitly than writing a huge block of text about all
the things you enjoy. That was the premise for a site I worked on (mostly dead
for now), though it isn't targeted at dating.

<http://sitesincommon.com>

Example profile: <http://sitesincommon.com/users/niran>

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miracle
I'm never interested in women working in the same profession than I'm working
in, having the same views, etc... I don't need someone to acknowledge
everything I say. I can do that myself.

~~~
natrius
I read more on the internet than just tech stuff, and those are interests I'd
like to discuss with the people I spend a lot of my time with. What do you
plan on talking to someone about if not shared interests?

What heuristic would you use to find people who would complement your views
rather than reinforce them? It doesn't sound like an easy problem to solve.
Looking at what someone reads does give a good indication of what their views
are, but that's not how you have to use it. You can just use it as an
indicator of a general interest in politics, for instance.

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jasonlbaptiste
im sorry, but this realtime stuff is like web 2.0 overhype on steroids.
There's a lot of great products that will come out of it, but there will also
be a lot of WTF is going on here products as well.

"it's like friendfeed for dating". People usually go on dating sites to get
laid and/or find soulmates, I don't think need real time dating search will
make that happen more efficiently.

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HeyLaughingBoy
_People usually go on dating sites to get laid and/or find soulmates_

I often wonder if this is why most dating sites struggle: most people who are
trying to get laid feel they need to at least pretend they are looking for a
mate(1) or else they come across as being too crass. This then leads to
mismatch between the "I want to get laid soon" and the "I am looking for a
long term mate" groups and both end up unsatisfied. It's for just this reason
my gut tells me that OnlineBootyCall.com will succeed.

(1) sometimes the unexpected happens and they converge: my wife and I met on
Yahoo! Personals about 10 years ago when we were both just looking for a booty
call :-)

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orblivion
Reading the title, the image of the product I got in my mind seemed to be a
great idea, a solution to some of the awkwardness that I personally feel
toward OK Cupid. I don't want to send an email pretending to take interest in
something particular in someone's profile. Bottom line, who's out there,
_right now_ , who seems like they are at least potentially interesting? Who
wants to meet? "You seem interesting enough, let's just grab a drink." I
envisioned something like Twitter, with a more extensive profile. Maybe a
Twitter app could do this.

But reading it, this just seems like stalking people before you even know
them. Making online dating all the less natural.

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natrius
_"I don't want to send an email pretending to take interest in something
particular in someone's profile. "_

I don't want to have to _pretend_ to be interested in someone's profile. I
want to actually be interested in it, but profiles are hard to write. If
pulling information about what you do across the internet leads to an
interesting profile, then that seems like a huge gain with zero effort.

If you just want to meet as many possibly interesting people as possible, it
sounds like you're looking for <http://crazyblinddate.com>.

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chasingsparks
Hah. F*ck me. That is roughly the exact implementation of my project from two
years ago (even down to the metro area concept). Difference being their site
seems to be successful.

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natrius
I don't think the site is very successful. I tried it once, and there was
never anyone else in my area, which is right in the middle of one of their
metro areas. They run OKCupid as well, and I'm sure CBD would be more popular
(and therefore useful) if they advertised it on the site like they did at the
very beginning.

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oneplusone
<http://ge.la.to>

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charlesju
Where is the link?

~~~
natrius
<http://ge.la.to>

