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+1 for OkCupid. I met a lot of the most important persons there who even stayed friends. It is one of the sad examples of MBAs destroying an app they don't unde

+1 for OkCupid. I met a lot of the most important persons there who even stayed friends. It is one of the sad examples of MBAs destroying an app they don't understand saying the "UX ix too tedious".

nullc 3y ago
There was a post on HN once by a former OkCupid person who, as I read it, took a more nuanced view along the lines of: the market moved to cellphones and that kind of long form entry (or reading) isn't viable on a few-inch screen with point and grunt input. Beyond an insider sharing the view, I find it compelling because it didn't require anyone to have been an idiot. I've certainly seen other effects that look like the widespread usage of cellphones dumbing down the internet in disappointing ways. ... and it explains why someone doesn't just recreate the magic that OkCupid had: they can't. For classic-OkCupid to exist the public needs widespread access to a communications tool suitable for sending things more nuanced than dick pics.
- dzonga 3y ago
  I think what also people miss - is that by OkCupid requiring long form essays. the demographic would tend to be educated college folks - quirky gals studying humanities, chemistry etc. so you literally have a crowd of people who like reading, and are critical thinkers etc & most likely to be high earners too. but like every thing - the power of the lowest common denominator rules ie endless swiping on who you think is hot. this doesn't end with apps -- with forums gone -- you can hardly find places online where civilized discourse happens. now everything is just for the 'gram. or to go viral on tiktok.
Fricken 3y ago
Competition is supposed to give us choice. Instead, when one competitor discovers a cheap trick, the rest have to follow suit to stay alive, or at least believe they do. Hence there are a half dozen dating apps that all offer the same fucking swipe right garbage. OKCupid was pretty good, before the ubiquity of smartphones.
- posix86 3y ago
  In case of dating apps, the issue is that match.com owns all of them.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- userinanother 3y ago
  The cheap trick is to buy your competitors
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  smartphones aren't the problem, it's that the same company owns all of them and has an incentive to milk their customers. match.com doesn't own the local bar, and that's why it's probably a better way to get laid
dreamcompiler 3y ago
OkCupid was great in the early 2010s when you used it mainly on a website and before it was bought and enshittified by the Match group just like all other dating sites. It seems like it would be easy to recreate that magic -- it's just a website after all -- but getting the requisite network effects would be pretty much impossible. And if by some miracle you did succeed, Match group would just buy it and ruin it.
fsckboy 3y ago
> sad examples of MBAs destroying an app you should go get an MBA, it's the closest thing you'll ever find to surrounding yourself with more interesting OKCupid-from-back-in-the-day characters than you can possibly date through in 2 years! Meaning, if you don't think MBAs understand OKCupid, they do. But they also understand match.com

+1 for OkCupid. I met a lot of the most important persons there who even stayed friends. It is one of the sad examples of MBAs destroying an app they don't understand saying the "UX ix too tedious".

nullc 3y ago

There was a post on HN once by a former OkCupid person who, as I read it, took a more nuanced view along the lines of: the market moved to cellphones and that kind of long form entry (or reading) isn't viable on a few-inch screen with point and grunt input. Beyond an insider sharing the view, I find it compelling because it didn't require anyone to have been an idiot. I've certainly seen other effects that look like the widespread usage of cellphones dumbing down the internet in disappointing ways. ... and it explains why someone doesn't just recreate the magic that OkCupid had: they can't. For classic-OkCupid to exist the public needs widespread access to a communications tool suitable for sending things more nuanced than dick pics.

dzonga 3y ago
I think what also people miss - is that by OkCupid requiring long form essays. the demographic would tend to be educated college folks - quirky gals studying humanities, chemistry etc. so you literally have a crowd of people who like reading, and are critical thinkers etc & most likely to be high earners too. but like every thing - the power of the lowest common denominator rules ie endless swiping on who you think is hot. this doesn't end with apps -- with forums gone -- you can hardly find places online where civilized discourse happens. now everything is just for the 'gram. or to go viral on tiktok.

Fricken 3y ago

Competition is supposed to give us choice. Instead, when one competitor discovers a cheap trick, the rest have to follow suit to stay alive, or at least believe they do. Hence there are a half dozen dating apps that all offer the same fucking swipe right garbage. OKCupid was pretty good, before the ubiquity of smartphones.

posix86 3y ago
In case of dating apps, the issue is that match.com owns all of them.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
userinanother 3y ago
The cheap trick is to buy your competitors
red-iron-pine 3y ago
smartphones aren't the problem, it's that the same company owns all of them and has an incentive to milk their customers. match.com doesn't own the local bar, and that's why it's probably a better way to get laid

dreamcompiler 3y ago

OkCupid was great in the early 2010s when you used it mainly on a website and before it was bought and enshittified by the Match group just like all other dating sites. It seems like it would be easy to recreate that magic -- it's just a website after all -- but getting the requisite network effects would be pretty much impossible. And if by some miracle you did succeed, Match group would just buy it and ruin it.

fsckboy 3y ago

> sad examples of MBAs destroying an app you should go get an MBA, it's the closest thing you'll ever find to surrounding yourself with more interesting OKCupid-from-back-in-the-day characters than you can possibly date through in 2 years! Meaning, if you don't think MBAs understand OKCupid, they do. But they also understand match.com