"If Dating Profiles Were Forced to be Honest"

I definitely agree that you can't use umbrellas to categorize everyone online, even trolls.

I don't really think you come across as an antisocial asshole though, at least not in the forum setting. Maybe it's from a lack of emoticons and lol's in your posts. If you say lol, everyone knows you don't mean it.

"I hope you get ran over by a truck

lol"

The key to genuine online relationships is acronyms.

I think Michael and Thesaurus are both pretty spot on when you guys talk about the relationship between online demeanor and how someone may be like in real life; however, the video talks about making a match system based on profile information like "What kind of movies do you like?", "What kind of books do you like?", "Do you go out much?", etc

Now I agree that an online persona can either be a facet of a persons real personality or perhaps a facet of a person's personality they are experimenting with, or maybe not even experimenting with, that is being exaggerated more than normal due to curiosity or circumstances of online anonymity (as michael mentioned), but even if they are lying or experimenting it shows a part of them. And you will only know all this if you have seen the person's behavior over time, like on a forum or in a chat, but the video was basing its "perefect" matches off questions which may or may not give you a false impression of a person. To say this person is a perfect match for this person or this person could never get along with this person based of little quiz and some profile information I think can be very misleading.



Or maybe I am just understanding this wrong?

I think you're reading it right. I diverted a bit from the actual context of the video. I think that's under the science-of-matchmaking type stuff. Liking the same books or agreeing about whether to litter or not aren't the most pertinent factors in a healthy relationship.

I do think, however, that those questions give a good general opinion of people's interests. So you can find people with compatible interests. But people with the same interests don't necessarily have the same personalities or even personalities that get along.

I think there's actually a show on MTV that my mom's been watching that has a bunch of couples together, and they secretly have a "perfect match" or a "best match" and have to figure out which person that is. It seems like a silly concept. But watching it might really give you a good idea of statistics vs. chemistry, to see how many of the best matches actually end up with each other in reality.

Hmm yeah I think I saw something similar on netflix but it was more so how physical proportions and attributes normally have similarities between couples due to our natural tendencies to like people who are in similar range of physical beauty and appearances.

So I can see how they would apply that to personalities and interests but the thing that makes me wonder is perhaps it could have something of a placebo effect? If I am introduced to a girl that I"m told I would be perfect for then you will have that mentality going into the conversation and getting to know each other which may or may not impact how things turn out? Just playing devil's advocate

My dating profile is as honest as it can be. I hate lying anyways because I hate being lied to so I wouldn't do something that I don't want others to do to me.

Well I don't know if many of people lie on them profiles... I think it's a matter of having the right vision of themselves.

If the profiles were forced to be brutally honest, many people would fall in love. I firmly believe in the good of humanity.

@Thesaurusrex- But that only works for adorable sweet-looking people. When someone sweet says "lol " They seem friendly.

When I do it, it seems sarcastic and mocking


@MikeyC - I agree with what you said too, and i think these personality match ups should be taken with a grain of salt. But I feel they'd help at least a little.

For example, Person A chooses "No, I dont enjoy clubbing" and places this as "Highly important" on his priority list, this effectively weeds out the clubbers that Person A doesnt want to bother with.

Or if someone chooses they will not stand their partner flirting with others, and places it as a priority answer, they weed out the flirtatious people of the site. Or if a person chooses "I would kill baby Hitler if I can travel back in time", it helps others avoid a potential future infant serial killer (I would totally kill baby Hitler... js)

Sure some people would lie or give out an 'idealized' version of themselves, but weeding out those who don't bother lying (or dont think it's a big deal) about their "bad" qualities, helps you filter through it all. Then you're just left with a few great people and some liars.. then you individually assess them.

It's not a perfect system, far from it, but I think it's marginally better than randomly clicking profiles and hoping the next person isnt the exact opposite of who you want.