OkCupid Grants Special Privileges to Attractive Users

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6 Responses

  1. nathanjurgenson says:

    pj: first, hilarious. second, i think your comment about “normalization” and the ecological fallacy is dead on. given this, would you care to comment on how this prosumer labor on OkCupid is tied to normalization while so many other aspects of prosumer self-hood seem to allow difference/niche/Long Tail? ~nathan

  2. pjrey says:

    I think this is an indication that we need a more nuanced theoretical approach to studying the Internet. Maybe we need to look to the study fashion (e.g., Lipovetsky, Simmel, Bourdieu, etc.) to explain how something can both differentiate and normalize. This certainly requires more thought.

    Also, the more problematic question is: Why am I still on OkCupid?

  3. outernet says:

    I actually discontinued my A-List subscription (I wasn’t overly fond of it as a dating site, but thought they deserved support for their research-oriented blog) due to this thing. I’m up in the air about deleting my profile altogether, but other recent changes to their overall layout and profile content dictating user experience (“I’m looking for”) makes for a really invasive, extroverted sort of experience that I’m not all that comfortable with.

  4. Chris says:

    I got this email too but am convinced that every member gets it. I think it’s a way to appeal to our narcissism to get us online more.

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