DailyDirt: Looking For Love In Some Of The Wrong Places

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Oct 16th 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Online dating is by no means a new thing anymore, and by some counts, we're on the third iteration of improvement for internet dating. So that means we should be pretty close to perfecting these services, right? (Third time's the charm?) Matching algorithms will probably get better and better with time, but then so will expectations. Here are just a few interesting links for geeky singles out there.

Psychologists have pointed out that matching algorithms for long-term relationships are not significantly better than random. Dating algorithms aren't actually so bad at excluding potentially "bad dates" -- but that's not what most online dating services offer. [url]
The Secret Diamond Club takes advantage of some economic tricks to try to match up rich men with attractive women. The real secret, though, is that it probably doesn't work at all -- and it preys on lonely people with money. [url]
Recently, the Nobel prize for economics was awarded for work on matching markets. The Gale-Shapely algorithm has been used for matching organ donors and doctors with hospitals, but maybe someday it'll be used for finding romantic partners, too. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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Filed Under: algorithms, economics, gale-shapely, matching markets, nobel prize, online dating, romance

7 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2012 @ 5:14pm

reminds me of Luis Von Ahn...
http://vonahn.blogspot.com/2009/02/valentines-day.html

How do dating sites start? The first person to join has no one else to date... so do dating sites fill up their database with fake profiles to encourage more people to sign up?
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Zakida Paul (profile), 17 Oct 2012 @ 1:40am

Unfortunately for me, online dating suffers from the same problem as regular dating. If you do not make a good first impression, you get rejected/ignored. Can we have an algorithm to solve that problem? :-')
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Ninja (profile), 17 Oct 2012 @ 4:30am

I've used dating sites and it was an interesting experience. While I do think they can work yes in the end the best way to get yourself a partner is just to be minimally social (as in hang out with friends, by yourself etc). From my experience people with similar tastes tend to go to similar places enjoy similar stuff which is when things start (and this actually includes online forums, communities and so on). Also, one very good source of new contacts are the friends of your friends (which is how I met my current partner).
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Pixelation, 17 Oct 2012 @ 7:27am

"but maybe someday it'll be used for finding romantic partners, too."

Hmm, a dating service that sets you up with someone who is also an organ donor match. 'Til death do us join.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2012 @ 2:18pm

There comes a time to grow up and quit believing in fairy tales.
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Beta (profile), 17 Oct 2012 @ 5:21pm

perfect match
"The Secret Diamond Club takes advantage of some economic tricks to try to match up rich men with attractive women. The real secret, though, is that it probably doesn't work at all -- and it preys on lonely people with money."

So... it acts like attractive women. Can we match it up with a venture capitalism organization, one that is willing to give lots of money to possess a company that looks good?
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Lennart Regebro, 19 Oct 2012 @ 6:23am

So, Secret diamon is a dating site...
...where all women are guaranteed to be gold diggers?

Yeah, that seems like it would attract a lot of wealthy successful men. Not.
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