OKCupid
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![c65.jpg](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/361/449/c65.jpg)
About
OkCupid is a free dating website that pairs registered members based on their compatibility score determined through a series of survey questions. The site includes a public forum, instant messaging system and an official blog analyzing statistics from various user interactions.
History
Harvard University students Chris Coyne, Christian Rudder, Sam Yagan and Max Krohn launched the literary website TheSpark[10] on January 7th, 1999. The site included a beta app called "SparkMatch", which allowed registered users to take a "Match Test" and search for and other users to contact. Their main project eventually became known as the educational study guide website SparkNotes[1], which was sold to the company iTurf Inc. in 2000 and subsequently purchased by Barnes & Noble in 2001. Following their success with SparkNotes, the founders continued to work on SparkMatch, eventually changing its name to OkCupid before launching the site on March 4th, 2004.
![4f4.png Join the best dating site on Earth Email or Username OkCupid - Free Dating Password Sign in Start meeting people now! We just need a few things to get started The Google of online dating - The Boston Globe de de The best 2 free dating site ーAbout.com Gender I'm female A favorite hangout for internet goers - The Village Voice de Orientation I'm straight クラ Status I'm single Pretty legit - Some guy on Yelp de Next](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/361/701/4f4.png)
InterActiveCorp Acquisition
On February 2nd, 2011, the company InterActiveCorp (IAC), owners of the competing dating site Match.com, announced in a press release[15] that they had acquired OkCupid for $50 million in cash. The same day, an OkCupid blog post criticizing the dating sites Match.com and eHarmony was removed from the site. In an interview with The Observer[16], OkCupid CEO Sam Yagan claimed they were not asked by Match.com to remove the post but that it seemed like the "common sense thing to do."
Features
Anyone over the age of 18 may join the site and begin searching for other members based on various criteria including location, age, relationship status and “match %.” Members can obtain the “A-list” status by paying a monthly fee, which allows them to bypass all advertising and provides several more filtering options. When browsing other user profiles, free-of-charge members' names remain visible to the profile owners, while A-list members can elect to browse anonymously.
CrazyBlindDate
On November 6th, 2007, OkCupid launched the website CrazyBlindDate[13] for users in Boston, New York City and San Francisco. The dating site used used an algorithm to match users based on simple personal questions and set up dates for them. In April of 2010, Time Out[14] reported that the site was taken down for construction.
![943.jpg AUSTIN COMING SOON: BOSTON NYC SF Crazy Blind Date LOG IN FAQI MEET THE STAFF Notification Time On how short notice can we contact you with a date? BETA previouS I can check my e-mail at least Once every 15 minutes And I can get to these areas in South Congress: 15 minutes or so after a date is finalized N.Central Burnet 15 minutes or s Mt Bonnel 2222 1 1 5 minutes or so after a date is finalized North West Hills: 15 minutes or so after a date is finalized after a date is finalized. NEXT → Lana / 24 Cali / 22 Allison / 24 ewes in Austin](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/363/749/943.jpg)
OkTrends Blog
On July 7th, 2009, OkCupid launched the OkTrends blog, which analyzed and graphed data received from its registered users. Based on their answers to survey questions, the blog described how people from different races, ethnicities, geographic locations and socio-economic status viewed political, ethical, romantic and other issues.
![504.jpg oktrends Dating Research from OkCupid The Best Questions For A First DateAbout OkTrends February h,2011 by Christian Rudder Fiest dabes ane awward. There is so much you want to know about the person across the table from you, and yet so little you can directly ask OkTrends is original research and insights OkCupid. We've compiled our observations from hundreds of mitions of OkCupid user ll to explore the data side of the onise Gan bout us he OkCupld has 7M active members, these artic by IM unique readers each manth. Plese se uests to press@okeupid.com All posts any drugp How Your Race Affests The Message 1557 comments The REAL 'Shuff White People Like 21 commen The Dig Lies Peoplo Tel in Online Da 42 commenes](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/363/754/504.jpg)
Online Presence
On November 17th, 2009, the /r/OkCupid[11] subreddit was created for Redditors to share profile critiques, dating experiences and relevant media. As of July 30th, 2012, the OkCupid Facebook[18] has received over 11,000 likes and the OkCupid Twitter[19] account has gained more than 17,000 followers.
Single Topic Blogs
There are several active Tumblr blogs with themes and commentaries related to the dating site, including This is Not Ok, Cupid[7], It’s Not OK, OKCupid,[23] Ok Cupid Kill Me,[8] Hell is OKCupid,[24] Terrible OKCupid Messages,[25] OK Stupid,[26]The Worst of OKCupid[27] and Fuck No Ok Cupid.[9] On February 17th, 2012, the Goths on OKCupid Tumblr[21]was launched, curating profile images of people who identify themselves with the goth subculture and its style of fashion. (shown below, left). On May 24th, the “Juggalos on OKCupid” Tumblr[22] was created, featuring OK Cupid profile photos of those identified as Insane Clown Posse fans (shown below, right).
![1c7.jpg](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/471/662/1c7.jpg)
![971.jpg okcupid](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/471/664/971.jpg)
On May 31st, the Tumblr[6] blog “OkCupid Enemies” was launched to showcase photos of OkCupid members alongside screenshots of humorous quotes taken from their profile description. The first post included a photo of a man giving the camera his middle finger, captioned with an excerpt from his profile description which read, “…when I was 17 I had a seizure and died it wasn’t very fun” (shown below, left). On July 24th, the “Fedoras of OkCupid” Tumblr[20] was created, which quickly gained traction for openly shaming men who wear fedoras in their dating site profile pictures (shown below, right).
![573.jpg The most private thing I'm willing to admit Is...when I was 17 I had a seizure and died it wasn't very fun 0% Match 0% Friend 96% Enemy okcupid](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/361/632/573.jpg)
![Nicest guys Are you a virgin? Yes My self-summary I'm one of the few good guys out there. Girls always say they want a nice guy but they always get stuck in the friend zone. I'm not a Do you think women have an obligation to keep their legs shaved? Yes Report okcuptd](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/471/644/617.png)
Nice Guys of OKCupid
On December 16th, 2012, the “‘Nice Guys’ of OKCupid” Tumblr[28] was launched to expose the hypocrisy behind some of the male users who claim to be "nice guys" by juxtaposing their profile photos with contradictory and sometimes even misogynistic statements found in their self-descriptions (shown below).
![318.jpg You should message me if You re not some ignorant girl who likes douche bags I'm secretly the "nice guy Do you believe that men should be the heads of their households? Yes Do you think women have an obligation to keep their legs shaved? Yes okcupid](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/471/682/318.jpg)
![6d6.png a really, really nice guy I'm really good at falling into the friend zone... never the bone zone Would you ever film a sexual encounter without your partner knowing? I'm Not Sure](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/471/697/6d6.png)
On December 19th, 2012, the women's interest blog Jezebel[29] published an article titled "Meet the So-Called Nice Guys of OKCupid," which noted that some Tumblr users were misinterpreting the point of the blog and were commenting on the posts with comments like "this is literally me." The same day, the Internet humor site BuzzFeed[30] published a post titled "Nice Guys On OKCupid Are The Worst," highlighting several notable examples from the Tumblr blog. On December 20th, "Nice Guys of OKCupid" was lauded by the feminist blog Feministing[31] and NY Mag.[32]
Highlights
Alyssa Bereznak's Gizmodo Article
Alyssa Bereznak's Gizmodo Article was an article published in August of 2011 to the tech news blog Gizmodo, which featured intern Alyssa Bereznak's OkCupid date with the world champion Magic: The Gathering player Jon Finkel. In the article, Bereznak insulted Finkel for playing the card game and revealed that she would not have dated him if she were aware of the hobby beforehand. After the story was submitted to Reddit, Bereznak was inundated with attacks from various Redditors and Finkel participated in an "ask me anything" thread on the social news website.
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![alyssa-scumbag.jpg WHINES THAT JON FINKEL DIDN'T TELL HER ABOUT BEING MAGIC WORLD CHAMPION DIDN'T TELL HIM THAT SHETALKED SHITABOUT THE DATE ON A TOP 500 WEBSITE](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/169/296/alyssa-scumbag.jpg)
![MIOZZ.png YOALYSSA IM HAPPY FORU ANDIMMA LET U FINISH BUT YOUR LUCKY TO EVEN DATE ANYONE,](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/169/315/MIOZZ.png)
Body Type & Attractiveness Filters
In early 2013, OKCupid implemented a new premium feature enabling its users to filter out their potential dates by body type (ranging from thin, fit and average to jacked, curvy and full figured) as well as a five-star scoring system. While the filter options had been available for premium users of the site for some time, the features began drawing attention shortly after Mashable ran an article titled "OKCupid Charges $4.95 to Filter by Body Type"[34] on October 2nd, 2013.
![29f.jpg Body type Advanced Thin O overweight O skinny Average Fit O Athletic Jacked O A little extra OCurvy O Full figured O Used up ch by attractiveness and body type.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/620/476/29f.jpg)
![eb0.jpg Attractiveness 3+ star average 4+ star average 5 star average Advanced Search](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/620/477/eb0.jpg)
That same day, Mashable's report was immediately picked up by mainstream and internet news outlets alike, from Gawker[36], The Daily Dot[38] and Slate[37] to The Daily Mail[41], TIME[40] and ABC News[39], with many of them raising skepticism as to the accuracy of the crowdsourced filter system. In response to the news coverage, OKCupid's spokesperson promptly issued a statement via Mashable clarifying the company's decision to reserve the filter options for premium site users:
"We have some features reserved for paying users because things will disproportionately be driven to certain people otherwise," the spokesperson said. "If everyone could sort through attractiveness -- which is crowdsourced by users on the site -- only very attractive people would get attention."
Mozilla Firefox Boycott
On March 31st, 2014, OKCupid began displaying a full-page plea asking its Mozilla Firefox browser users to switch to another browser in a boycott protest against Javascript creator and Mozilla's newly appointed CEO Brendan Eich, who has publicly supported and donated the Proposition 8, a controversial bill that put an end to gay marriage in the state of California.
![OKCupid's Message to Firefox Users okcupid Hello there, Mozilla Firefox user. Pardon this interruption of your OkCupid experience. Mozilla's new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples. We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid. Politics is normally not the business of a website, and we all know there's a lot more wrong with the world than misguided CEOs. So you might wonder why we're asserting ourselves today. This is why: we've devoted the last ten years to bringing people-all people-together. If individuals like Mr. Eich had their way, then roughly 8% of the relationships we've worked so hard to bring about would be illegal. Equality for gay relationships is personally important to many of us here at OkCupid. But it's professionally important to the entire company. OkCupid is for creating love. Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame, and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure. If you want to keep using Firefox, the link at the bottom will take you through to the site. However, we urge you to consider different software for accessing OkCupid: Google Chrome Internet Exploder OperaSafari Thank you OkCupid](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/727/765/08d.png)
OKCupid's public shaming, which came days after several employees of the company asked the CEO to step down via Twitter, quickly spread across the tech news blogosphere while Eich came under the scrutiny of the Internet blogosphere and social media, spawning hashtags like #boycottmozilla and #boycottfirefox.
![380.jpg](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/729/664/380.jpg)
![c66.jpg](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/729/667/c66.jpg)
In response to the backlash, Eich issued a statement on his blog reassuring people that he will take a series of measures to create an inviting environment for everyone. Then on April 3rd, Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker announced the departure of Brendan Eich from the nonprofit organization and its foundation board. Eich's resignation was largely welcomed by the tech news blogs as a small triumph for equal rights in online communities, while some conservatives on Twitter shot back with accusations of intolerance against family values.
![bb5.jpg FIRE MOZILLA'S CEO FOR HIS PERSONAL BELIEFS TELL MEMORE HOW TOLERANT YOU ARE.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/000/729/670/bb5.jpg)
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Traffic
As of July 27th, 2012, OkCupid.com has a Quantcast[3] rank of 394, an Alexa[4] rank of 211 and a Compete[5] rank of 1,828. Compete reported that the site received over 1 million unique visitors in the United States in June of 2012.
![](https://a.kym-cdn.com/assets/blank-b3f96f160b75b1b49b426754ba188fe8.gif)
Search Interest
External References
[1] Spark Notes – Spark Notes
[2] The Atlantic – Why Match.com Shouldn't Have Purchased
[3] Quantcast – www.okcupid.com
[4] Alexa – www.okcupid.com#
[5] Compete – www.okcupid.com
[6] Tumblr – OkCenemies
[7] Tumblr – This is Not Ok Cupid
[8] Tumblr – Okcupid, kill me
[9] Tumblr – Fucknookcupid
[10] Wayback Machine – TheSpark
[11] Reddit – /r/OkCupid
[12] Tech Crunch – Meet Potential Lovers Over a Drink with CrazyBlindDate
[13] CrazyBlindDate – CrazyBlindDate
[14] WebCite – Time Out – The Date in Dating Website
[15] PRNewsWire – IAC's Match.com Acquires OkCupid
[16] The Observer – We Didn’t Censor Our Match.com-Bashing Blog Post
[17] Blog.OkCupid.com – OkTrends
[20] Tumblr – Fedoras of OKCupid
[21] Tumblr – Goths on OKC
[22] Tumblr – Juggalos on OKCupid
[23] Tumblr – Its Not OK OKCupid
[24] Tumblr – Hell is OKCupid
[25] Tumblr – Terrible OKCupid Messages
[27] Tumblr – The Worst of OKCupid
[28] Tumblr – Nice Guys of OKCupid
[29] Jezebel – Meet the So Called Nice Guys of OKCupid
[30] BuzzFeed – Nice Guys on OKCupid Are the Worst
[31] Feministing – The Nice Guys of OKCupid
[32] NY Mag – Nice Guys of OKCupid Are Anything But
[33] The Huffington Post – Nice Guys of OKCupid Tumblr Proves These Dudes Are Anything But
[34] The Frisky – The Scariest Tumblr of Dudes You Never Want to Date
[35] Mashable – OKCupid Charges $4.95 to Filter by Body Type
[36] Gawker – OkCupid Users Can Now Pay to Weed Out Uggos and Fatties
[37] Slate – OkCupid’s "Fat" and "Ugly" Filter Won't Help You Meet Your Match
[38] The Daily Dot – Too many unattractive people on OkCupid? Pay to get rid of them
[39] ABC News – OkCupid Body Type Filter Pay Option Rankles Daters
[40] TIME – OKCupid Lets You Pay to Filter Out Fat and Ugly Users
[41] Daily Mail – The controversial U.S. dating site that lets you PAY to filter out fat and ugly people
Top Comments
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