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A Quantitative Analysis of Online Dating

imjustatomato writes "Never before has something so human and primitive as dating been reducible to such discrete values. A study analyzes the data of an online dating service. When do you like someone like yourself? Among online dating members, "marital status" and "wants children" are the two most influential characteristics to match. Other interesting findings are: men initiate 73.3% of messages, but their initiations are 17.9% less likely to be reciprocated; 78.2% of messages are never responded to."

27 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. how I met my wife by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wrote that I wanted to relax on a couch with someone getting high and watching insects having sex on the Discovery Channel.

    1. Re:how I met my wife by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      So there is hope after all!

    2. Re:how I met my wife by PHPfanboy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Bill, is that you?

      --
      29 mpg. YMMV.
    3. Re:how I met my wife by speculatrix · · Score: 3, Funny

      that's how I met your wife too! BTW, your bathroom fan's bearings need replacing, and your bedroom curtains are hideous.

  2. That's odd... by Mr.+Samuel · · Score: 5, Funny

    100% of my messages are never responded to.

  3. Bender's computer dating service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Discrete and discreet

  4. double entendre by macadamia_harold · · Score: 5, Funny

    Among online dating members, "marital status" and "wants children" are the two most influential characteristics to match.

    Uhh, yeah. I'm going to guess that the phrase "wants children" means something different, depending on whether you're on a dating site, or on alt.sex.lolita. Yes?

  5. Oblig. by Mister+Impressive · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, but 72% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

    --
    Let the commencement BEGINULATE!
  6. Not quite surprised here by tftp · · Score: 5, Funny
    No wonder geeks do not get much of replies. The very fact that a geek is sitting in his fortress, behind the flickering terminal, surrounded by 16 different and very old Linux boxen, clearly indicates that his romantic needs are best addressed by a robot or by some pr0n that is plentiful out there.

    And from the other side of the equation, no sensible female of the species will choose to date a geek that is clearly ill-adapted socially, is not likely to resemble a movie star from her wall poster, and probably will not fare well in the salary department if he ever manages to leave his basement (many choose not to.)

    And with respect to children, many men dislike children and don't want them at all. They are expensive to maintain, and pointless to raise in the first place. The society changed so much in the last 100-200 years that a large family that was a great advantage to a peasant is now a death warrant in many professional areas, financially and time-wise. Parents nowadays are expected to sink up to a million dollars into a child, with no ROI whatsoever. The parents become slaves to their children, working most of their productive life to maintain the family.

    1. Re:Not quite surprised here by Frogbert · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wow... just wow.

      I give that one +1 Jaded as Fuck.

    2. Re:Not quite surprised here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dad?

    3. Re:Not quite surprised here by BeeBeard · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think you just made Spock's head explode!

  7. Women love a man with a huge... by Belial6 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Of course, women love a man with a huge... bank account. Did this suprise you?

    1. Re:Women love a man with a huge... by bmo · · Score: 4, Funny

      And men love women with huge....tracts of land!

      --
      BMO

    2. Re:Women love a man with a huge... by lubricated · · Score: 3, Funny

      They love men that don't realize that it was a Mony Python quote even more.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
  8. Re:Surprise Surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Interestingly enough, my *nix instructor lives with his mom (who happens to be the SQL instructor).

    Yes, I'm a coward.

  9. Re:More studies like this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Psh. At 99% of universities, the phrase "masters thesis" might as well be replaced with "book report".

  10. Re:Online dating by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Funny
    and one just didn't work out at all.

    That'd be the one you married then?

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  11. Please date me!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello, im a desprate virgin tieered of masterbating to videos of other people having sex. I spend all day at the computer, and i need someone to cook my food, do my laundry, and clean the house, as i have just moved out of my moms basement. I also require you to do all of this in sexy outfits, and have sex with me whevere i want, further, no naging is allowed, or i will reprogram you in the basement

    Please resond this time HotWifeWannabe1337!!, you dident seem to get my first 26 messages...

    -- Anoymous Coward

    1. Re:Please date me!!! by cashman73 · · Score: 2, Funny

      CowboyNeal?

    2. Re:Please date me!!! by jcohen · · Score: 2, Funny

      Move to idyllic Stepford!

      --
      "Imaginary solutions to real problems."
  12. Re:This surprises me not one bit. by king-manic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Appearances (which comes in with expectations, I suppose.) If you're not 'beautiful', you're evidently not worth knowing. Dig a little deeper, people. There's more to beauty than stick figures like you see in those fashion magazines ...

    I though that once upon a time. Then I realized I wasn't ugly and have been shallow and self gratifying ever since. It works for me.

    --
    "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  13. Members... by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 3, Funny
    "Members" are anyone who'se ever signed on for an account and not deleted it....

    That is just plain wrong. Members (Latin name: Phallus Maximus) are sentient symbiont life-forms that human males carry between their legs. The member is connected to the brain of the human male and takes over control of the brain and thus the entire body whenever a human female is present manipulating the human male into to doing and saying idiotic things he would otherwise never dream of. Members, and the effect they have upon the behavior, utterances and personality of the human male can be quite annoying but unfortunately they can also not be eradicated since they are essential to the procreation of the species. Research into alternative technologies such as cloning is ongoing.
    --
    Only to idiots, are orders laws.
    -- Henning von Tresckow
  14. Qualities in a woman by threaded · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I was 14, I hoped that one day I would have a girlfriend. When I was 16 I got a girlfriend, but there was no passion, so I decided I needed a passionate girl with a zest for life.

    In college I dated a passionate girl, but she was too emotional. Everything was an emergency; she was a drama queen, cried all the time and threatened suicide. So I decided I needed a girl with stability.

    When I was 25 I found a very stable girl but she was boring. She was totally predictable and never got excited about anything. Life became so dull that I decided that I needed a girl with some excitement.

    When I was 28 I found an exciting girl, but I couldn't keep up with her. She rushed from one thing to another, never settling on anything. She did mad impetuous things and made me miserable as often as happy. She was great fun initially and very energetic, but directionless. So I decided to find a girl with some real ambition.

    When I turned 31, I found a smart ambitious girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground and married her. She was so ambitious that she divorced me and took everything I owned.

    Now, I am older and wiser, and am looking for a girl with big tits.

  15. That chat room you speak of... by way2trivial · · Score: 4, Funny

    this chick
    http://www.tshirthell.com/images/contestpics/a249_ 004.jpg

    and this chick
    http://www.tshirthell.com/images/contestpics/a249_ 003.jpg

    the reason they didn't write back was they already finished spanking it for that evening...

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  16. Objects by GoatMonkey2112 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't waste your time dating primatives. Full fledged objects make much better dates.

  17. "Quantitative analysis" by MoxFulder · · Score: 2, Funny

    So that's what chicks are into these days. Silly me, I thought they were all about differential equations!