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by nerdjon 1513 days ago
Maybe for security (however that being second for any app is a serious issue).

But this is a conscious choice. A small team should not need to make the decision to do something like this.

Also Grindr or Scruff isn't exactly small and have a fairly devoted base that doesn't end just because they get into a relationship.
2 comments
madamelic 1513 days ago
Users kinda suck and hate to pull out their wallets if they don't have to.

Dating apps also suck at giving compelling reasons to pay them unless the app is purposefully made worse so they can sell the functionality back.

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nerdjon 1513 days ago
How much of that is because they have been conditioned that things should be free though?

We have 10+ years of Google, Facebook, and others handing out major tools and functionality for free because of the privacy invasion.

I have to wonder how things would have looked had that not become the norm.

As far as being purposefully made worse, yeah both apps do that. Grindr charges $100, Scruff charges $120 a year. Considering how popular both apps are I have to assume they are pulling in quite a bit of money.

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aerostable_slug 1513 days ago
> have a fairly devoted base that doesn't end just because they get into a relationship.

At least in the US, one might imagine this is more important to users than hiding their sexual preference.

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throwanem 1513 days ago
That's quite a claim when, until Grindr's practice of selling PII was disclosed, no one had any reason to imagine that by using the app they would be disclosing their sexual orientation and behavior. In light of that I have no idea what preference you imagine to have been meaningfully revealed here.
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aerostable_slug 1512 days ago
My claim is that for a large number of Americans, it's probably worse to be outed for seeking extra-relationship (I'm not sure of the proper term) casual sex than for being gay/bi/queer. Of course, both of those could be revealed at the same time which would be quite the double-whammy to an unsuspecting partner.
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throwanem 1512 days ago
Oh, I see what you mean.

I'm not sure I agree, though. In an open relationship it'd be no surprise to my partner if I were using Grindr (he probably would be too, in that case!) and I think therefore that'd be more or less orthogonal to the concern around the risk of forcible outing posed by Grindr's misuse of data. Both are certainly of concern, but I think independently so.

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