NY Times on OKCupid and how OKCupid helped bring my wife and I together
Looking for a Date? A Site Suggests You Check the Data
By JENNA WORTHAM
Looking for love on an online dating service?
If you’re a man, don’t smile in your profile picture, and don’t look into the camera. If you’re a woman, skip photos that focus on your physical assets and pick one that shows you vacationing in Brazil or strumming a guitar.
Those are some of the insights that OkCupid, a free dating site based in New York, has gleaned by using statistical tools to analyze how the mating game plays out on its site.
While my wife kaligreeneyes and I met originally on USENET, it was on OKCupid that I found out that she was interested in me. I posted a link to an OK Cupid Test and my results to USENET in late August 2006, starting a 700+ post flamewar that lasted more than a month, one of my better trolls. A few days later, I checked to see who had taken the test, and there she was among the test takers! She had registered on OKCupid because of that quiz. I messaged her to confirm that it was indeed her, then favorited her. A month later, I checked her profile and found out that nearly all the quizzes she had taken were ones I had taken--and we got very similar results. I was intrigued.
We started chatting when we were both online. By November, we were calling. By December, I had decided to see her. I actually saw her on January 2nd 2007. I proposed in late March 2007. We moved in together on June 1, 2007. We finally got married on October 24, 2009. I'd say we were a success for OK Cupid.
I still have that OK Cupid profile. I won't delete it (I like having access to the site for memes), but I'll post the story of how OKCupid helped get my wife and I together. It will serve the dual purpose of warning off people and encouraging them that they're in the right place.
I hope you all had a Happy Valentines Day. I know I did.