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I'm not sure focusing solely on interests is the way to go because, if I think of the people I consider my best friends, what amazes me is that we don't really

by sendos 16y ago

I'm not sure focusing solely on interests is the way to go because, if I think of the people I consider my best friends, what amazes me is that we don't really share that many common interests or hobbies. What bonds us seems to be that when we talk, we feel free to discuss and explore any topic, we have a curiosity about the world, etc. I don't really know why I click with those particular people versus others who might share similar interests. In fact, if you look at my best friends from different friend groups, they don't really have that much in common with each other (one is heavily into sports, one is heavily into classical music, etc), so that's why I'm a bit unsure as to whether it is feasible to create an algorithm to find whom you will click with. For finding people you share interests with, today there is meetup.com. You may not click with them, but it is one place to start looking if you're in a new city. What I am asking about in the OP though is different (although I can see that any algorithm that tries to find people you click with will look at, among other things, your interests and hobbies)

Jun8 16y ago
You have a point. But look at the example you provide: meetup.com. It is hopelessly crude. The bad part is that it lets you connect with groups of people (clubs, etc.) rather than actual people. For example, when I enter Go, I get (among tons of unrelated content brought up by uninformed text matching) the Chicago Board Games Club. Cool, but I could have found this using Google (in fact searching for "Chicago go game" in Google turns up many better matches). This is definitely now what I need. As for your main point: My guess is that you are bonding with these people because you are sharing a common outlook to life, a common way of thinking. This would be hard or impossible to discern automatically using algorithms.

by sendos 16y ago

Jun8 16y ago

You have a point. But look at the example you provide: meetup.com. It is hopelessly crude. The bad part is that it lets you connect with groups of people (clubs, etc.) rather than actual people. For example, when I enter Go, I get (among tons of unrelated content brought up by uninformed text matching) the Chicago Board Games Club. Cool, but I could have found this using Google (in fact searching for "Chicago go game" in Google turns up many better matches). This is definitely now what I need. As for your main point: My guess is that you are bonding with these people because you are sharing a common outlook to life, a common way of thinking. This would be hard or impossible to discern automatically using algorithms.