[untog]

For anyone not aware, OkCupid has a fantastic blog where they do all sorts of statistical analysis on their members:

http://blog.okcupid.com/

It hasn't been updated in over a year. Downer. Getting bought by match.com has clearly had an effect. I have the extremely dubious honour of having had my profile featured on there once as being of "average attractiveness". People still visit my profile to this day, despite me not used it in a few years. Now that's good long tail traffic.

Anecdotal evidence: all the girls I know on OkCupid have said that they are harassed the second they turn on the IM system, so they have it turned off. Not that it makes a huge difference- they get flooded with messages, varying from the inane ("hey baby, what's up?") to the creepy.

Given the sheer amount of crap they have to deal with, I don't think for a second that online dating is "easier" for women. Having to reject hundreds of suitors might sound preferable to having to approach tens, but I doubt that it really is.

[pie]

And sadly, the article "Why You Should Never Pay For Online Dating" bashing match.com was taken down right after the acquisition.

Very interesting use of statistics by these guys.

There seems to be a mirror here http://interestingreads.posterous.com/why-you-should-never-p...

[AncientPC]

There are a few relevant blog posts:

1. Race and gender data:

http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-...

2. Attractiveness data:

http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-looks-and-online-dati...

[ig1]

Had. They've stopped updating it post-Match.com acquisition.

[DrJ]

if anything, I wish they would update the blog. News from some inside sources says that they are so over extended (running too lean?) that it takes them weeks to get new stuff started (that aren't in the pipe line).

[KingMob]

I wonder if it's one of the consequences of writing it in C++. Seems like that would hurt developer velocity relative to other sites.

[personlurking]

There's a very interesting behavior that happens on the streets of Brazilian cities which your comment on anecdotal evidence made me remember. Due to a seemingly high percentage of men here acting like they've never seen a woman before in their life (ie, doing a quadruple-take when one walks by) and doing lots of cat-calling (generally in groups), women have learned to not make eye contact. Being that I'm not like these kinds of men, I still get treated like them thus women don't make eye contact with me, in passing.