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Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's the Only Guy Allowed
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- asynch8 7y agoDid the same man create the website? I can't seem to be able to access it
- mumblemumble 7y agoAre you talking about the target of this link from TFA? > a new app called Singularity (only built to open on phones not computers).
- asynch8 7y agoit was a joke, but i was refering to the news website
- imdsm 7y agoI get 403 when connecting from the UK. Connecting via a US access point, I can view it. Video ------------------------------------------------ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wWkAHOph6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wWkAHOph6A Text ------------------------------------------------ Greensboro Man Creates Dating App Where He's The Only Guy Allowed Most of us don't have the tech skills to create an app, but there are other ways to improve your odds for online dating. Author: Ben Briscoe Published: 3:29 PM EST November 20, 2019 Updated: 6:06 PM EST November 20, 2019 GREENSBORO, N.C. — 31-year-old Aaron Smith can put his finger on exactly what’s wrong with dating apps. “The biggest problem with the other apps is that my face is not featured prominently," he said. To cut down on competition, he created a new app called Singularity (only built to open on phones not computers). What's unique about the new app is that he’s the only guy allowed on it. No matter how many times you swipe, it’s only different versions of his picture. “If life gives you lemons, you should first make lemonade," he said. "Then make sure no other companies can produce or distribute their own soft drinks. So the only game in town is lemonade.” He even made a commercial to promote the app. Singularity was created with the help of Smith's best friend and software engineer Scott McDowell. “All of us who have done online dating in some sorta way can all relate to the fact that it really does sometimes suck," McDowell said. Improving Your Chances But not everyone has a computer genius at their disposal, so how do you improve your odds? By knowing when and where to look! HighSpeedInternet.com says Tinder has the most men on it, but to get women, tinder tied with plenty of fish. Your age matters too. PC Magazine found for 18 to 45 Tinder is king, 25 to 34 it’s plenty of fish and 45 to 65 is most likely to find love on Match. And a study by Ogury says the best day of the week to make your move is Thursday. Most people use the apps then looking for a date on the weekend. It Can Happen And don’t give up hope of finding true love. “It’s 100 percent possible. We’re proof of it," said Amanda Caudill. She met Jonathon over Bumble. The two were married less than four months later. Jonathon and Amanda Caudill Jonathon and Amanda Caudill get engaged. JONATHON CAUDILL “Trust in god to write your love story," Amanda said. Jonathon said there's another key to success too. "Be authentic. Be honest," he said. "Too many people try to sell themselves like a car. Just be honest.” And know one day you too could delete all these dating apps. "Hallelujah,” Amanda rejoiced. As for Aaron, he hasn’t heard from many women after making his new app. “No, well other than like my mom who calls me. No.” But he hopes creativity will be the key to finally making love happen. "Hopefully it will give people a chuckle about just the absurdity of what we’re reduced to as a society," he said.
- ma2rten 7y agoAre you a man?
- atestu 7y agoLink to the (mobile-only) website: http://www.singularitydating.com/ http://www.singularitydating.com/ He even made a commercial that's pretty funny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wWkAHOph6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wWkAHOph6A
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ozguroz 7y agoBut at the end he says this was a joke , probably not :)
- brenden2 7y agoI've thought about making a new dating app. The existing apps suck for 2 reasons: in most markets men are at a significant disadvantage because of how men and women differ in the way they approach dating (and there's also a significantly unfair male:female ratio in many markets). Additionally, none of them are really designed to get people off the app, but rather they're built to increase engagement and keep people on the app. One idea I've had is to disallow conversation in the app, and instead focus on making date plans if there's a match. Another idea is to introduce a payment aspect to make spamming economically unviable, except that the payment goes to the recipient instead of the platform. Some apps have tried things like this, but they kind of suck because it's not real money so it's not useful.
- btrautsc 7y agothe plan part is a really interesting idea.
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 7y agoInteresting idea. First issue that I thought of: People will create fake profiles to rake in all the money from admirers. Or, if the profiles are genuine, the app quickly becomes a cam/chat site because why would you ever go on a date if you could get paid for just being there and chatting with admirers.
- brenden2 7y agoIt's relatively easy to prevent fake profiles by requiring basic identity checks (phone number, etc).
- logfromblammo 7y agoNothing is easy when more money can be made by claiming it is difficult.
- jermaustin1 7y ago> except that the payment goes to the recipient I believe you just described escorting/prostitution. Not that I am against sex work, but that app would be DOA.
- fluxic 7y agoLooking back on the 2010s app wave, it's hard to think of any other app (including FB, Uber, and Airbnb) who have had a bigger cultural impact than Tinder.
- zeroonetwothree 7y agoTinder had no effect on a large percent of the population. So your estimation of the cultural impact is skewed by your personal experience.
- realbarack 7y agoAssuming by "a large percent of the population" you mean "people who are no longer dating," this is not a good way to think about it. Analogously, there are many cultural trends that people don't engage with after they are teenagers (music, fashion, etc.) but it would be wrong to claim that these trends don't have high cultural impact.
- balls187 7y ago> Tinder had no effect on a large percent of the population. So your estimation of the cultural impact is skewed by your personal experience. Swipe {right|left} is now part of our Lexicon.
- saagarjha 7y agoFWIW, Tinder has had less impact on me than any of the three things you mentioned. And I haven’t even used the flagship service for two.
- nkg 7y agoThere's a business model here! Pay 120$ and be the only man in town for 2 hours.
- nkg 7y ago150$ on weekends
- bargle0 7y agoThe heck with that. Auction it.
- Jonovono 7y agoTinder pretty much has this now haha. They have a new boost that lasts like 24 hours and costs 100+ :p
- sebastiangraef 7y agoTinder already does stuff like this https://www.help.tinder.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029087891-Super-Boost https://www.help.tinder.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029087891-S...
- _sid 7y agoI had this idea yesterday (and even wrote it down). Too slow I guess...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- smolder 7y agoYeah I had it a few weeks ago, too, honestly. Execution and timing are hard. Not for something like this, but sometimes you can be too early with an idea, too...
- _sid 7y agoApparently it had been done even earlier :D [1]. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/14/14601254/shinder-dating-app-shed-simove-tinder https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/14/14601254/shinder-dating-a...
- jcims 7y agoNot sure who actually made it but the main guy in the app is pretty funny. At :30 in the video 'if life gives you lemons, like your personality for example..'
- vbtemp 7y agoI had an idea for a dating app a while back, in which the basic idea is that you pay the service to message someone (above a free weekly limit of say 1 msg). The pricing would be reactive - as popular attractive people get more messages, the more it would cost to message them, growing exponentially in order to limit incoming messages to approx a few a day. Unpopular people who got few messages would have a price that would go down to zero. This would hopefully solve the problem of women getting hundreds of messages a day, and men getting neither any incoming messages nor any replies to their outgoing messages. It shouldn't be much of a problem to get women on board, as they rarely send messages anyway and it would always be free just to put up a profile and receive messages. And for men it would hopefully be a fair an transparent way to have confidence that their outgoing messages would be received and read (and have fewer immediate competitors), rather than just lost in the noise. I don't have time for it now, but it's always been something on my mind. Edit: Thanks for your comments. This is interesting. Lots of hypotheses worth experimenting.
- tantalor 7y agoCan I buy options on sending a message in the future, and then sell those options on a derivative market?
- ookblah 7y agoi mean it does solve that problem of excess of messages, but i think as a woman or man you would want the app to give you the best possible match or through some "magic" find someone who you might not have found through conventional means, not just the person who paid the most.
- chroem- 7y agoDating apps are extremely broken, and yet they're almost all owned by a single company: Match Group. I have a suspicion that these apps are left intentionally broken to keep users fruitlessly searching and boost engagement metrics. I can't find a complete list of the companies they've acquired, but last time I checked, Match owns over 20 different apps and dating sites, including Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge. We really need some antitrust action in this space.
- xwdv 7y agoAs an investor in Match Group, and a witness to some of the behind the scenes data on dating apps, I can confidently say most reports of “broken dating apps” can simply be attributed to user error.
- gddvhy 7y agoThis is what you should say as an investor.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jacquesc 7y agoI've noticed Hinge go way down in quality since Match bought them. Where on Tinder, 1/10 gals ever reply to a message. Hinge used to be 1 out of 2 (or higher). Now it's slowly creeping down to Tinder levels. Or maybe it's just me.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- toxik 7y agoIt’s somehow in the nature of dating apps to wax and wane, much like social networks. There’s some sense of novelty and excitement that wears off eventually. I think Tinder will eventually die too, and by the sound of it, already is well on its way.
- dukoid 7y agoHere is my "crowd-based" dating app idea: let others do the matching -- i.e. decide which couples fit together....
- Jedi72 7y agoThis is actually a pretty good idea. I think women would really go for it, since most of the 'matchmakers' are probably other women
- Jedi72 7y agolmao, so I just ran this idea by my girlfriend and she said "yeah its good but there would be trolls, I would just put hideous women with hot guys, and vice versa" - so, not so easy to succeed at (also, what a catch my girl is :P)
- capableweb 7y agoMake it based on reputation for the matchmakers as well. So if you purposefully do bad matches, you'll eventually not be able to do any more matchmaking.
- linuxftw 7y agoI really think you have something here.
- mam2 7y agoThat would go well in india ><
- imdsm 7y agoThat's a good idea but how would it work in practice? Would there be a two pass matching system? For example, let's say the friendly folks of this app match me with someone, what do I see? Do I now see a match, and my match sees me, and we can message? Or would I see my match and have the choice of declining? It's interesting, but it's a different model to the XAND model currently used by dating app matching.
- 7y ago
- Jonovono 7y agoSo, he just copied this idea from 2017? https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/14/14601254/shinder-dating-app-shed-simove-tinder https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/14/14601254/shinder-dating-a...
- astrojams 7y agoI have a friend who used to work for one of the bigger dating app services. He is an AI expert and wrote the matching algorithm for the service. He is very good at his job and his algorithm was so good that people matched, got married and stopped using the dating service. The higher ups in the company noticed the loss of revenue and asked him to make his algorithm worse so that people would match, date, but then break up and go back to their service. He proceeded to quit his job.
- greggman2 7y agoCharge $100-$4000 a person. Make money while taking customers from all other dating sites once word gets out your site works and theirs don't
- kl4m 7y agoHow to approach the lack of network effect at the beginning while paying upfront? Many sites/apps are free for "basic" features, presumably for this reason.
- ShteiLoups 7y agoJust advertise wedding services really hard in the app. If you're really good at creating a market, capitalize on it.
- empath75 7y agoback in the early days of okcupid, my top two suggested matches were my first girlfriend and another girl who I had been friends with for years and had already been on a date with before either of us signed up. It was pretty remarkable. And this was when they didn't have anything like a social graph.
- StacyRoberts 7y agoI married my #2 world match on okc. We were together for 10 years. Separated amicably and are still great friends. I've now been with someone I met my second day on pof after being stalked on okc by an ex I met irl. I preceded to message with over 100 individuals on pof and met more than a dozen of them in person. Better than 80% of them had lied in their profiles in some way or another. I focused on the most honest and compatible one. I fall more in love every day of the 2 years we've been together. Online dating works. It's hard. But it works.
- _aleph2c_ 7y agoPeter Thiel would be proud of your business and dating approach Aaron (it's a "zero to one" approach). No doubt there will be a woman out there who sees the ad, and then joins your exclusive dating club. But my question is this? Can the women see the other women on your app, if not you should consider renaming your app to "myharem".
- mcv 7y agoIf the women can see each other, it might work as a dating app for lesbians.
- shkkmo 7y agoMy dating app idea is very different from the ones I see posted here. The usual approach is to use algorithms / self selection to find matches for people (and pesimistically, specifically matches that won't work out but will string people along just enough to keep them engaged with the site.) I would like to see a social / gamified matchmaking service that utilizes our own social intelligence to find matches for others. People seem to love matchmaking and shows like the Bachelor/Bachelorette have been very popular, so I would imagine that there would be a set of users who would find this very entertaining. Monetization would be in-app tips that happy couples provide to the people who matched them up (of which the app-maker would take a cut). This aligns the incentives of the app-maker with the users (rather than against them as with normal dating apps). Feel free to use this idea, I don't want to work in the space but I would like to see such an app exist.
- mijoharas 7y ago"Access Denied" for the article from the uk. Looks like someone couldn't be bothered to deal with GDPR. :)
- parliament32 7y agoGood. This is honestly the best way to deal with GDPR.
- nazgulnarsil 7y agoI had an idea for a much more aggressive filtering service called first date. Men's profiles are a video that you only get one chance to shoot in which you are asked a random set of questions that you thus can't prepare for.
- the_jeremy 7y agoSee everyone's gripes about SWE interviews and LeetCode prep. People will find ways to prepare.
- rgblambda 7y agoWouldn't they just delete their accounts and start over if it went poorly? Any kind of Proof of Identity verification to stop people doing that would probably put them off signing up in the first place.
- api 7y agoIn our coworking space in Orange County, CA we had a guy come in for an app pitch fest with an app for dating for Mercedes Benz owners. The idea was that the app would be for men -- only men -- who own Benzes, and for female users it would show men in Benzes within a certain number of miles. Between drags off a bottle of beer (and while thoroughly drunk) he fielded a question from one of the attendees: "what sort of profile does the user create?" "Profile? He's driving a Mercedes!" (big drag off beer) I'm on the fence about whether the whole thing was a joke but he apparently did prototype the app, and given the nature of the current timeline I have completely lost the ability to tell the difference between jokes, trolls, satire, and reality. Other attendees were similarly on the fence about seriousness.
- firefoxd 7y agoI've been writing a piece on dating apps, friendship app and such, looking deeper into what apps do for their users. The tldr is that we used all the tricks in the box, but we taught users nothing about relationships. Apps let you swipe, or send messages, or add cool pics. But they don't tell you how to handle another person.
- dghughes 7y agoI tried many dating site over the years and the one thing that stood out is if you're under 6 feet tall don't even bother creating an account.
- Invictus0 7y agoSorry, you're lying to yourself if you think your height is the issue.
- dghughes 7y agoIf I put 6 feet tall on the dating site wit all the same info there was a dramatic increase in interest. Disappointing but no surprise. I'm fine with my height but it seems dating sites are not the place for normal people.
- BattyMilk 7y agoAm 5'11". Married a girl I met on Tinder
- knolax 7y agoThat's within the margin of error of 6ft.
- mntbp95 7y agoIt really makes me feel sad you've had this experience I hope you change your mind. I am a fellow short man so I have experienced rejection because of height among other lame reasons. I'm not conventionally good looking either. But this type of mentality is negative and detrimental to your success as well as the success of other men in the same position. Your looks absolutely matter and to say otherwise is disingenuous. But to say you shouldn't try at all because of height is ridiculous. I found my wife through a dating App after having used dating apps off and on for a few years. I also tried conventional dating in person. Did I receive less attention than my more attractive Male peers? Yes absolutely, but I accept it and instead focus my efforts on the variables in my control. Physical fitness, attitude, and having life goals I work towards everyday. I can't beat most guys in looks or charm so I focused on persistence more than anything else. I recognize that can sound nebulous, but it really works over the long run. I hope I don't come off as condescending these types of comments just really strike a nerve with me. I wish you success in your personal life if you haven't found it already.
- znpy 7y agoModern problems call for modern solutions. /s
- ron0c 7y ago"Greensboro Man creates Lesbian* Dating App"
- wscott 7y agoI just want to say that this guy is brilliant and deserves to get a couple of dates from this.
- drak0n1c 7y agoThis is the next iteration of natural selection - another item in the long line of complex and sometimes not so complex ways of monopolizing attention from the other sex.
- jdofaz 7y agoThis was amusing, I don't know why it blocks desktop but Firefox dev tools responsive design mode was enough to fool it into working on my pc. Also amusing was the wfmynews2 using the youtube redirect to link to the site, wtf, lol.
- nlh 7y agoSince we're all discussing our dating app ideas, here's one I've had: Why does your interaction with the app end with the messaging thread? It feels like every app decides that once you've been "connected", that's the end of their responsibility. I'd like to see an app that takes a more holistic approach: A good algorithm gets you connected, allows you to communicate but also helps set up the first (and second? or third?) date(s). Then gathers feedback on the dates -- what went well, what didn't, and uses that input to refine the matching algorithm (if necessary). The key here is that the current crop of apps aren't really "dating" apps - they're "first introduction" apps. Getting involved in the whole process could (maybe?) lead to better outcomes. This is of course assuming that the goal is better outcomes -- as other commenters have pointed out, some companies don't actually want that, they just want you endlessly scrolling (and subscribing). But assuming you build a business that does truly want to optimize for successful outcomes, this could be a start...
- MisterTea 7y ago> A good algorithm gets you connected, allows you to communicate but also helps set up the first (and second? or third?) date(s). That's like a lot of work, bro. Besides, I got a pocket full of ecstacy and a roof top rave party to spend my startup money on.
- jfengel 7y agoYou'd think there would be money in that, too. Set 'em up at a Starbucks, or a bowling alley, and get kickbacks from the venue. I bet romantic restaurants would pay a pretty penny to get the attention of a man trying to impress a woman -- especially if he told the app that he was willing to spend $200 on a date. Sounds like a pain in the ass to implement, and you'd get all kinds of accusations of corruption, but they get that anyway.
- generalpass 7y agoI'll admit to not even looking at these services in a very long time, but OKCupid had experimented with setting up the first date more spontaneously, but it was before ubiquitous smart phones so they didn't go very far with it, IIRC. If you had the app on, and it knew you were in proximity to some sort of match, then it could notify each party and provide a message like, "would you like an introduction to so-and-so? You're both within walking distance of an art exhibit - meet a new person and enjoy some fine art!"
- teddyc 7y agoWoot! Local story on front page of HN. I cannot believe it!
- DFX1212 7y agoThere is a new dating app currently in beta called The One that has open messaging (like the old school OKC), no ads or micro-transactions, and has user defined traits for building your profile and filtering others. They also charge less if you don't get any matches or send any messages in a month. https://theonedating.app https://theonedating.app
- neardanger 7y agoThe first rule of online dating is be attractive. If you're average or below average dont waste your time.
- ramgorur 7y agoThere are many interesting ideas about how to come up with a "fair" online dating market. But I guess everyone is completely disregarding the basics of human nature, attraction is mostly based on "looks/facial aesthetics": https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackPillScience/ https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackPillScience/ In a free/unregulated sexual market, women are the selectors, not men. Women are biologically hardwired to select good looking males (irrespective of his money, personality or social status). Therefore ugly people don't get matches. Very simple. No matter how many ways you try to engineer/fix the system, it's not going to work. Because the existing system is already doing what it is supposed to do.
- danbolt 7y agoI don't think that's universally true. Being attractive certainly can help make good impressions easier (and I've known insufferable people coast by on good looks too) but I don't think it's the be-all or end-all of romance. I've known women that have broken up with or turned down attractive men because they didn't enjoy talking with them, or had different political views, or wanted to have/not have children. Conversely, I've known men that didn't exactly look like movie stars end up in relationships with nice-looking women too. That's not even considering same-sex attraction either. Heck, I've turned people down to date less physically-attractive people in the past too.
- ramgorur 7y agoIn the online dating market of 2019 looks is all that matters. Because of these reasons: 1. Online dating mostly depends on looks, it's based on your pictures. Almost no woman reads your bio. Simply because people don't have time (this is another reason why new apps like tinder and bumble even don't give you enough spaces to write about yourself, because it doesn't matter at the end). 2. If a woman does not find an attractive man "interesting" after first couple of dates or so, she can easily find another attractive man with "interesting" personality. They do not have to go for an ugly male with interesting personality. Because women (even average/non-attractive ones) have an extremely large dating pool, men don't. For example: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=168948903&page=1 https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=168948903&pa... 3. Almost no woman picks a mate based on political views. I have seen die hard leftist women dating neonazi guys. https://mtonews.com/.image/t_share/MTUzODEzNzk4OTYyMDc5NDg2/image-placeholder-title.jpg https://mtonews.com/.image/t_share/MTUzODEzNzk4OTYyMDc5NDg2/... Same sex (specially between men and men) is a completely different ballgame. The mate choice strategy of women is completely different from that of men.
- liopleurodon 7y ago"Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/2-wants-to-know/greensboro-dating-app-online-dating-singularity/83-de8a5d3a-dea6-4a71-8da0-f2394f071cdc" http://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/2-wants-to-know/... on this server. " I seriously hate how US sites block Europe because of GDPR. No other country in the world does that
- Mercury1 7y agoIn a country where single men outnumber single women by up to 3,000 to 1, creating a dating app where the male creator is the only man allowed might sound like a good idea. Unfortunately, it isn't much more likely to get him a date in the United States of America where 98% of women born after 1980 are lesbian, many are in gangs, and they are nothing but selfish, unapproachable, and spoiled rotten with a bad attitude, most women are obese and the only reason they are single is because their own tremendous girth is keeping men away like a cement wall, and the only attractive straight ones are 90210-minded gold diggers aka you better be financially capable of living in Beverly Hills, California, or even Hidden Hills, California (which is similar to Beverly Hills, except Hidden Hills is a gated community). The dating scene for men sucks in the United States. American women are worthless trash. They are nothing but drama just waiting to happen. Prison terms, restraining orders, divorce, a criminal record for the man. The only logical thing to do is save up some money and GET OUT of America! Countries like Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Thailand, France, and Greece have far superior quality women who are not one or the other; either morbidly obese with an unattractively massive girth, man-hating lesbians, or 90210-minded gold diggers. In fact, check out http://www.happierabroad.com http://www.happierabroad.com