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OMG GOOGLE ROMANCE <3 <3 <3!!!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the can-we-get-chicks dept.

Chapium writes "Google Romance (Beta) is a place where you can post all types of romantic information and, using our Soulmate Search(TM), get back search results that could, in theory, include the love of your life. Then we'll send you both on a Contextual DateTM, which we'll pay for while delivering to you relevant ads that we and our advertising partners think will help produce the dating results you're looking for. With this addtion has Google gone too far with its data collection?"

5 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. So gay = bad? by SUB7IME · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm really impressed with the latent homophobia in nearly every single 'aprilfools' post so far today. The 'gay' tag? Is that necessary? It's really not funny.

    Maybe you could put 'fag' next time instead? OMG, like that would be SOOOO FUNNY!!!

    1. Re:So gay = bad? by geminidomino · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is slashdot, online home of many many gamers. They use such terms.

      Slashdot also has a very healthy "words evolve" faction which holds that words do not mean anything other than what the speakers of the words think they mean, so if "gay" means "bad" it's not homophobia, it's evolution.

      I'm now taking signups for the "just fucking get over it, you're not that special" faction. Sign up now and get a free "There was only up to 1 cross in history that mattered, and yours ain't it." T-shirt.

    2. Re:So gay = bad? by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      words do not mean anything other than what the speakers of the words think they mean, so if "gay" means "bad" it's not homophobia, it's evolution.

      Indeed. Take the word "suck," for example; a person I insultingly call "gay" is no more homosexual than a person I insultingly say "sucks". Or what about "jerk"? A "jerk" was originally someone who...jerked himself. Jerk has become a word accepted in society (its slang status notwithstanding), and "suck" is bordering at least passive acceptance.

      What about "SOB"? Do I really insinuate that you are human on your father's side and canine on your mother's? If I call you a "butthead" do you really excrete from your brain? If you're a "booby" do you actually produce milk? If you're a "dirty bastard" are you really someone born out of wedlock who didn't take a shower? All of these are terms that are clearly not taken literally. "Gay" is the same.

      At the risk of offending a racial group too in the same post, I'll mention that I think "gay" is like "black"/"nigger": they both refer to groups that are too ready to be insulted. Nobody cares if you're gay or if you're black if you don't care either.

  2. Re:Slashdot users rejoice! by Pneuma+ROCKS · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think he is. But he also has a point. It's not so far-fetched to think Google will get into this eventually, even if they joke about it know. They already have orkut, you know? And online dating services are moderately popular and an interesting type of site for advertising.

    More generally, Google <insert whatever word you want> Beta is not unlikely to happen eventually.

    --
    Favorite quote: &quot;
  3. A 4/1 joke or ambivalence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This is Google's way of introducing a dating service without it looking like it was their idea. After all, it's embarassing.

    Google builds Google Romance.

    They're ambivalent about introducing it.

    Product Manager has the brilliant idea to introduce it as a joke, monitor interest, and later claim, "Oh, it started as a joke, but people really wnated it, so we did it."