my web 2.0 monkeys will get right on it

[adularia]

The world needs some mechanism by which an individual, upon seeing a photo of a cute and intelligent stranger, may compliment that person's apparent cuteness and intelligence without seeming creepy.

*angst*

Comments

[stolen_tea]

WOuld it be a problem if it were anonymous?

[adularia]

I'd slightly prefer if it were not anonymous, but if you've got an idea, I'd love to hear it.

[stolen_tea]

Well, IMO, much of the creepiness comes from perceived ulterior motives, most commonly trying to get the person into bed. If there's no ulterior motive for the notification, then there's no creepiness, just a genuine appreciation. Having an anonymous untraceable method for letting people know that someone thinks they're nifty would remove that aspect. Although human nature being what it is, a) timing would allow identity to be communicated, and b) it would fairly quickly be upgraded to one of those hook-up games where it emails people if they match. LJ-friending seems like another way, too, although there are a lot of limitations there.

I think the primary obstacle is that we don't have communication channels set up for this sort of thing. It's not a commonly accepted social interaction, and as such, people are going to a) assume it's a more common and sketchier type of interaction, and/or b) attempt to use it as a more common and sketchier type of interaction.

[3smallishmagi]

Immediate thought is there are two ways to do that:work within the bounds of expectations and find a way, or credit people with the intelligence to know what you mean and say what you feel, which is tough because you _know_ you are writing off some fraction of the population as beneath consideration.

.. I wonder if these two views are what cause the local rise and fall of civilisation: you cater to your assumed bottom of your audience, or you credit people with insight equal to your own.

[gfish]

Gods yes. Let me know if you come up with a good solution.