fractalnavel

not acceptable ;-)

craig ran across this new multi-dating-site search service, by lycos.  it's in beta, and looks pretty good.  needs a couple features ironed out, like the fact that using certain criteria that is not available on a searched site will exclude that site entirely.  they at least need to indicate which site(s) each criteria applies to.  and they could also let you choose the sites to search, and then show only the available common criteria.  that sort of thing.  finally, they also need to work in the “reverse match” and “mutual match” features that match.com has, so that people can find those who want them as well.

anyway, in order to use some of these features, you have to put in your own profile, and i hadn't done that at any dating site in some years now, so i figured, what the hell.  one of these sites, tickle.com (yeah, goofy name, i know) had the most comprehensive criteria, and they also had a number of personality etc. tests integrated, so i figured i'd use that one.  it's a fun exercise in self knowledge in any case.

dating sites typically review profiles before they are made public, including photos.  well, for some reason they rejected the one at right.  i thought it was a great idea for a secondary photo (the primary being something approaching a normal portrait).  i think it captures personality and creativity etc. very well.

so i was going to deactivate my profile after i showed it around to friends for kicks, but then i thought, what the hell, i'll leave it up, see what bites ;-)  not that i'm exactly in any sort of dating shape at the moment.  part of the motivation came from the fact that my usual pessimism about these things was somewhat disproved.  with a few minor tweaks to profile and search parameters, i was able to find some legitimate possible matches. go figure.

i also filled in a match.com profile, with essentially the same information, but not as complete, because i wanted to play with their better search features.  quite fun, and again, i'm surprised at the results.  so i'll leave this one active as well.

i noticed that in both cases the profile reviewers are free to crop the photos and make at least minor edits to the text - and even some of the choices, it seems.  now, i think that's male bovine excrement, but i suppose some people find it helpful.  i know how to frame my images, thank you.  in one case they cut half of one picture off, which completely removed its humor (the “chicken or egg“).  and when it came to text, they felt free to put in their own profile title.  that's not minor.  i had put in the same innocuous crud i used at tickle.com, and match.com changed it.  the pics at match.com haven't been reviewed yet; we'll see what their reaction to the collage is.  at first glance, it seems their image policies are a bit more liberal.

one thing i noticed was that they had initially shifted the target age range down five years.  which is interesting; maybe i should think about that.  but not too seriously ;-)

so we'll see.  i'll leave this active while i'm on the road the next week and a half.  maybe there will be more than chirping crickets ;-)