OKCupid, The Pushy Mother

(NOTE: Based on time elapsed since the posting of this entry, the BS-o-meter calculates this is 15.678% likely to be something that Ferrett now regrets.)

I haven’t been hanging out on OKCupid a lot lately, mainly because FetLife is proving more interesting.  (Mainly because, well, you know, naked.)  But I still like OKCupid because of its complex ranking algorithms – I always love seeing who I’m compatible or who I’m not compatible with, and sometimes I sort globally by mutual match to see who is most like me in the world.
However, OKC’s introduced this new feature that creeps me out.
I just got an email that said, “The_ferrett, [user_name] is checking you out right now!”  And it told me that they’re bugging me now because she’s an exceptionally good match, in bold letters and all.  “You should check her out, too,” it urges me, and then tells me that “viewing someone a bunch won’t send multiples” and “you can stalk safely without looking like a stalker.”
(OKCupid apparently does not learn, since the list of people who’ve viewed your profiles used to be called “Stalkers” until some people without a sense of humor about such things complained vociferously.  Now they’re back to stalking jokes.  I’m sure that will go well.)
Regardless, though I checked out [user_name] – and while she was pretty, she was an 86% match.  Really, OKCupid?  86% is enough to Kermit arm-flail and get me to run over and say hello?  (For the record, I’m 99% with Gini and 94% with Bec, and there are at least fifteen other people in the Cleveland area – most of whom I know – who are over 90%.)
It feels uncomfortably like a stereotypical Jewish mother pushing me together.  “You’ll love her!” she reassures me, shoving me towards the door, knowing that 86% maybe isn’t the best, but it could be.  “What am I not here for, if not to set you up?”  And meanwhile, I’m sure she’s a very nice girl (in fact, “nice girl” is part of her user name), but did you have to call me out of nowhere to try to hook us up?
I’m tempted to send her an email saying, “OKCupid totally thinks we should get it on.”  But I can’t imagine that would go over well.
(In the meanwhile, if you’re on OKCupid, feel free to drop by my profile and tell me who you are – like I said, I’m obsessed with match percentages, and seeing LJ/blog people in other picture-heavy profiles often allows me to attach more of a personality to a commentor.)

1 Comment

  1. Kellie Lynch
    Jan 3, 2012

    Huh. Apparently you and I are a 99% match, which honestly kind of surprises me. I’ll ping you on there in a sec–not quite brave enough to publicly link my profile.
    I think I put more stock in OkCupid match percentages than I should. Basically, if someone’s less than 90%, they’re not worth considering. Sadly, most of the people over 90% are just as bad at keeping a conversation going as I am, so I’ve started expanding my horizons to the hotter upper-80s people.

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