5 ms·

I’m almost certain these dating apps, including Hinge and Bumble are creating loads of good-looking fake women profiles to attract male users and keep their pla

I’m almost certain these dating apps, including Hinge and Bumble are creating loads of good-looking fake women profiles to attract male users and keep their platforms “sticky”. There are suspicious telltale signs like location downtown when nobody says they live downtown in my area. The same responses and prompts across multiple profiles. It’s equivalent to them cooking their books, but with vanity metrics.

jarjoura 6mo ago
Or the more realistic, less tin-foil-hat reason, sophisticated chat bots are a real problem and dating platforms aren't immune to them.
- Tostino 6mo ago
  Why are you giving these companies the benefit of the doubt when they've already shown that they do this in the past?
- mikkupikku 6mo ago
  Realistically the party with the most straight forward financial incentive to do this should be the first we suspect, and that would certainly be the platform itself.
- ramesh31 6mo ago
  >Or the more realistic, less tin-foil-hat reason, sophisticated chat bots are a real problem and dating platforms aren't immune to them. I can tell you with absolute certainty from working in the industry a decade ago that the entire business model revolves around fake female profiles and dark UX patterns (lies) to trick lonely men. I can vividly remember that it was this big open secret that we all had to dance around all the time, pretending our product was legitimate and helping people. It's literally the only viable model for dating apps and sites; anyone who is actually successful at using them stops paying. I have no doubt the big apps are using their own LLM bots at this point.
globular-toast 6mo ago
I don't know. I don't think they need to. There are enough women who love the attention they get on these apps.
ninininino 6mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam > We invest $125 million annually in trust and safety teams, features and initiatives to help prevent and disrupt potential harm on and off our platforms. As we outlined in our Impact Report, we remain focused on several areas, including safety policy, features, social advocacy, law enforcement operations and outreach, and safety by design. from: https://mtch.com/single-news/922/#:~:text=We%20invest%20$125%20million%20annually,outreach%2C%20and%20safety%20by%20design. https://mtch.com/single-news/922/#:~:text=We%20invest%20$125... "Americans are losing at least $119 billion every year to scams, according to a new estimate from the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group." from: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/scam-cost-price-money-crypto-what-to-do-help-rcna262722 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/scam-cost-price-money-...
yowayb 6mo ago
In 2013, I went to Pebble Beach for an expensive car show. I met a couple guys that started newlydivorceddating.com. They told me they purchased thousands of fake starter profiles, so the site wouldn't seem dead. Tangent: I was a "pickup artist" (2005-2010). Most of it is creepy bullshit, but the process teaches you a powerful aspect of hookup-style dating (as opposed to courting for a long-term relationship): guys need to be ok with embarrassing themselves. I'm sure there are ways to optimize online dating, but the SNR was always bad, and it only seems to get worse. So yea I'm encouraging guys (or whatever the current term is for the one that takes the initiative) to work thru rejection. Of course, it's not that simple. If you simply memorize interactions that have been posted online, you'll quickly find yourself subtly outed as a weirdo. But that feeling of rejection is important. That's how your mind+body learns in real time. It's much harder for some of us that didn't quite socialize properly at younger ages (often due to horrible things like broken families, bullies, etc). And there are of course lighter approaches (what i described earlier often occurs within bars/nightclubs) within more casual groups that may involve more introverts. However, if you can get over rejection (and certainly pace it; don't be a sociopath) it will dramatically accelerate so many things (many of which do lead back to dating), and you can avoid these scammy dating sites altogether (I personally find 100% guarantees like this very compelling and will regularly consider if I can can just completely avoid entire classes of stuff).
- nodesocket 6mo ago
  very interesting. I bought The Game 10+ years ago and read 3/4 of it. I just can’t get myself to do tactics like magic, negging, and psych-ops. Though, I will confirm it works. Seen with my own eyes many times in disbelief. Couldn’t believe women fall for what seem like such corny and ridiculous behavior. I do think women are much more socially focused, tend to follow (sheep behavior) and in a miraculous turn of events if you ignore them, or don’t show interest they want what they can’t have. I’m in my mid forties now and frankly don’t have the energy and metal capacity to play The Game. It’s only gotten much worse (most dramatic for westerns) for more traditional and “old fashioned” men to find partners. We can thank instagram, snapchat, tiktok and perhaps most negatively onlyfans. I have traveled allover the world and find South American women still have a feminine mindset and want to genuinely settle down and start a family. Again more traditional; I assume because faith and family are such strong forces down south. Some may read my comment as “toxic masculinity” or whatever buzzword of the day is used to shame and emasculate men, but clearly something is broken with western and asian civilizations as marriage and birth rates are plummeting.

jarjoura 6mo ago

Or the more realistic, less tin-foil-hat reason, sophisticated chat bots are a real problem and dating platforms aren't immune to them.

Tostino 6mo ago
Why are you giving these companies the benefit of the doubt when they've already shown that they do this in the past?
mikkupikku 6mo ago
Realistically the party with the most straight forward financial incentive to do this should be the first we suspect, and that would certainly be the platform itself.
ramesh31 6mo ago
>Or the more realistic, less tin-foil-hat reason, sophisticated chat bots are a real problem and dating platforms aren't immune to them. I can tell you with absolute certainty from working in the industry a decade ago that the entire business model revolves around fake female profiles and dark UX patterns (lies) to trick lonely men. I can vividly remember that it was this big open secret that we all had to dance around all the time, pretending our product was legitimate and helping people. It's literally the only viable model for dating apps and sites; anyone who is actually successful at using them stops paying. I have no doubt the big apps are using their own LLM bots at this point.

globular-toast 6mo ago

I don't know. I don't think they need to. There are enough women who love the attention they get on these apps.

ninininino 6mo ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam > We invest $125 million annually in trust and safety teams, features and initiatives to help prevent and disrupt potential harm on and off our platforms. As we outlined in our Impact Report, we remain focused on several areas, including safety policy, features, social advocacy, law enforcement operations and outreach, and safety by design. from: https://mtch.com/single-news/922/#:~:text=We%20invest%20$125%20million%20annually,outreach%2C%20and%20safety%20by%20design. https://mtch.com/single-news/922/#:~:text=We%20invest%20$125... "Americans are losing at least $119 billion every year to scams, according to a new estimate from the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group." from: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/scam-cost-price-money-crypto-what-to-do-help-rcna262722 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/scam-cost-price-money-...

yowayb 6mo ago

In 2013, I went to Pebble Beach for an expensive car show. I met a couple guys that started newlydivorceddating.com. They told me they purchased thousands of fake starter profiles, so the site wouldn't seem dead. Tangent: I was a "pickup artist" (2005-2010). Most of it is creepy bullshit, but the process teaches you a powerful aspect of hookup-style dating (as opposed to courting for a long-term relationship): guys need to be ok with embarrassing themselves. I'm sure there are ways to optimize online dating, but the SNR was always bad, and it only seems to get worse. So yea I'm encouraging guys (or whatever the current term is for the one that takes the initiative) to work thru rejection. Of course, it's not that simple. If you simply memorize interactions that have been posted online, you'll quickly find yourself subtly outed as a weirdo. But that feeling of rejection is important. That's how your mind+body learns in real time. It's much harder for some of us that didn't quite socialize properly at younger ages (often due to horrible things like broken families, bullies, etc). And there are of course lighter approaches (what i described earlier often occurs within bars/nightclubs) within more casual groups that may involve more introverts. However, if you can get over rejection (and certainly pace it; don't be a sociopath) it will dramatically accelerate so many things (many of which do lead back to dating), and you can avoid these scammy dating sites altogether (I personally find 100% guarantees like this very compelling and will regularly consider if I can can just completely avoid entire classes of stuff).

nodesocket 6mo ago
very interesting. I bought The Game 10+ years ago and read 3/4 of it. I just can’t get myself to do tactics like magic, negging, and psych-ops. Though, I will confirm it works. Seen with my own eyes many times in disbelief. Couldn’t believe women fall for what seem like such corny and ridiculous behavior. I do think women are much more socially focused, tend to follow (sheep behavior) and in a miraculous turn of events if you ignore them, or don’t show interest they want what they can’t have. I’m in my mid forties now and frankly don’t have the energy and metal capacity to play The Game. It’s only gotten much worse (most dramatic for westerns) for more traditional and “old fashioned” men to find partners. We can thank instagram, snapchat, tiktok and perhaps most negatively onlyfans. I have traveled allover the world and find South American women still have a feminine mindset and want to genuinely settle down and start a family. Again more traditional; I assume because faith and family are such strong forces down south. Some may read my comment as “toxic masculinity” or whatever buzzword of the day is used to shame and emasculate men, but clearly something is broken with western and asian civilizations as marriage and birth rates are plummeting.