Slashdot Mirror
You Could Be Flirting On Dating Apps With Paid Impersonators (qz.com)
Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin sheds some light on the world of paid impersonators on dating apps like Tinder. Here's an excerpt from the report: Every morning I wake up to the same routine. I log into the Tinder account of a 45-year-old man from Texas -- a client. I flirt with every woman in his queue for 10 minutes, sending their photos and locations to a central database of potential "Opportunities." For every phone number I get, I make $1.75. I'm what's called a "Closer" for the online-dating service ViDA (Virtual Dating Assistants). Men and women (though mostly men) from all over the world pay this company to outsource the labor and tedium of online dating. The matches I speak to on behalf of the Texan man and other clients have no idea they're chatting with a professional.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that these ghostwriting services exist. Tinder alone produces more than 12 million matches a day, and if you're a heterosexual American, you now have a one in three chance of meeting your future husband or wife online. But as e-romance hits an all-time high, our daily dose of rejection, harassment, and heartbreak creeps upward, too. Once you mix in the vague rules of netiquette and a healthy fear of catfishing scams, it's easy to see why someone might want to outsource their online-dating profile to a pro, if only to keep themselves sane. But where does the digital social assistant end and the con artist begin?
It shouldn't come as a surprise that these ghostwriting services exist. Tinder alone produces more than 12 million matches a day, and if you're a heterosexual American, you now have a one in three chance of meeting your future husband or wife online. But as e-romance hits an all-time high, our daily dose of rejection, harassment, and heartbreak creeps upward, too. Once you mix in the vague rules of netiquette and a healthy fear of catfishing scams, it's easy to see why someone might want to outsource their online-dating profile to a pro, if only to keep themselves sane. But where does the digital social assistant end and the con artist begin?
It could be that this is a friendly advice to /.ers how to get laid. I gave up long time ago and prefer other paid services but there are still some naive among us that long for real romance with real humans (or what they think are that). If you are sane male with some selfrespect you will not go out there hunting - especially if you read all the nonsense on social media about how you should not be a 'predator' because females allegedly do not want it. Well guess what - confused females may not want it but will be utterly disappointed if you do not try. I do not see any way out of the dilemma other than paid services. I think it is even worth a study - how unhappy and lonely people can get in 'liberal' and 'just' society. Other aspect of this - this seems to be an areas not easily to be controlled by AI not now at least.
Why don't profiles on dating apps have user reviews like restaurants on Yelp or similar? It really would be helpful. Things like [ 40 lbs more than her picture ], or [ put's out on first date ] would be great to know. I really would like to know why this feature is missing?
* Carthago Delenda Est *