Anonymous matching
Encyclopedia
Anonymous matching is a matchmaking
method facilitated by computer databases, in which each user confidentially selects people they are interested in dating and the computer identifies and reports matches to pairs of users who share a mutual attraction. The purpose is to allow people to initiate romantic relationships while avoiding the risk of embarrassment
, awkwardness, and other negative consequences associated with unwanted romantic overtures and rejection
. The general concept was patented on September 7, 1999 by David J. Blumberg and DoYouDo
chief executive officer
Gil S. Sudai, but several websites were already employing the methodology by that date, and thus apparently were allowed to continue using ithttp://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=54&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&s1=matchmaking&p=2&OS=matchmaking&RS=matchmaking. United States Patent 5,950,200 points out several potential flaws in traditional courtship
and in conventional dating systems in which strangers meet online, promoting anonymous matching of friend
s and acquaintances as a better alternative:
to increase their membership. Users are encouraged to send an anonymous email to their crush so that they will visit the site and enter their own crushes, facilitating a match. In the case of SecretAdmirer.com, the email is mandatory; this represents a more aggressive type of viral marketing.
At least one site, CrushLink, was accused by eCRUSH of sending spam emails disguised as crush notifications. According to a Salon article, "What makes SomeoneLikesYou and Crushlink different from the rest of the sites in the genre is this: they bait hopeful visitors to hand over as many e-mail addresses as possible by trading clues for e-mail addresses"http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/08/07/crushmaster/print.html. Both sites are now defunct.
Matchmaking
Matchmaking is any process of matching two people for the purpose of marriage or a sporting contest.-Practice:In some cultures, the role of the matchmaker was and is quite professionalized...
method facilitated by computer databases, in which each user confidentially selects people they are interested in dating and the computer identifies and reports matches to pairs of users who share a mutual attraction. The purpose is to allow people to initiate romantic relationships while avoiding the risk of embarrassment
Embarrassment
Embarrassment is an emotional state of intense discomfort with oneself, experienced upon having a socially unacceptable act or condition witnessed by or revealed to others. Usually some amount of loss of honour or dignity is involved, but how much and the type depends on the embarrassing situation...
, awkwardness, and other negative consequences associated with unwanted romantic overtures and rejection
Unrequited love
Unrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...
. The general concept was patented on September 7, 1999 by David J. Blumberg and DoYouDo
DoYouDo
DoYouDo, Inc. is a Beverly Hills, California company that owns the patent to an anonymous matching service designed to detect mutual attraction between friends or acquaintances based on confidential lists they create of people they are interested in. On September 7, 1999, Israeli businessmen Gil...
chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
Gil S. Sudai, but several websites were already employing the methodology by that date, and thus apparently were allowed to continue using ithttp://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=54&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&s1=matchmaking&p=2&OS=matchmaking&RS=matchmaking. United States Patent 5,950,200 points out several potential flaws in traditional courtship
Courtship
Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...
and in conventional dating systems in which strangers meet online, promoting anonymous matching of friend
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
s and acquaintances as a better alternative:
Implementations
Some of the most notable implementations of the idea have been:- eCRUSHEcrushThe eCRUSH network comprises two major sites: eCRUSH.com and eSPIN.com. The network was acquired by Hearst Media on December 31, 2006 . The original eCRUSH site was launched on Valentine's Day, 1999 in Chicago by Clark Benson and Karen DeMars Pillsbury...
. launched Valentine's Day, 1999, is the most successful implementation of the concept. Targeted to the teen market, it has more than 1.6 million users and claims more than 600,000 legitimate matcheshttp://www.ecrush.com/faq.phtml?sess_sid=&cobrand=. - DoYOU2.com. The website's owner, DoYouDo, Inc., was incorporated 23 September 1999 and acquired by MatchNet in September 2000 in exchange for stock valued at $1,820,000. According to MatchNet's 2003 annual report, "The acquisition was made primarily for the purpose of acquiring the patent on this business model for future development."
- The LiveJournal Secret Crush meme. In mid-2003, a company named Anonymous Consulting created an online quiz called "Secret Crush Meme,"http://www.euthanize.us/memes/secret-crush-meme/ which would provide each user with a chart showing who on their LiveJournal friends list had a crush on them, as well as what "kind" of crush they had (public, secret or ex). The quiz was designed to harvest crushes between LiveJournalLiveJournalLiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
users (hence the elaborate disclaimer). In October 2003, a new quiz, called "Secret Crush Meme 2: The Revenge of Secret Crush Meme," was releasedhttp://www.euthanize.us/memes/crushmeme/, which showed users how many crushes other users had on them, as well as what kind. There was a catch: For four dollars, the company would tell someone who had crushes on them. This created controversy between couples who listed other users as crushes as well as people getting ex-crushes when they felt they should have gotten public crushes, and much ethics debating. Finally a small PERL script was written and distributed to poison the database. Faced with attempts to poison the database from many different IP addresses, the project was shut down. - SecretAdmirer.com. This service claims 100,000 successful matcheshttp://www.secretadmirer.com/. Salon.com called SecretAdmirer.com "the grandfather of the concept, launched in 1997." http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002/08/07/crushmaster/print.html?pn=2 Its methodology is different from the others in that in order for a match to occur, the recipient must send emails out, rather than simply place names on a confidential list.
Viral marketing
eCRUSH, DoYOU2.com, the LiveJournal Secret Crush meme, and SecretAdmirer.com are examples of anonymous matching services using viral marketingViral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
to increase their membership. Users are encouraged to send an anonymous email to their crush so that they will visit the site and enter their own crushes, facilitating a match. In the case of SecretAdmirer.com, the email is mandatory; this represents a more aggressive type of viral marketing.
At least one site, CrushLink, was accused by eCRUSH of sending spam emails disguised as crush notifications. According to a Salon article, "What makes SomeoneLikesYou and Crushlink different from the rest of the sites in the genre is this: they bait hopeful visitors to hand over as many e-mail addresses as possible by trading clues for e-mail addresses"http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/08/07/crushmaster/print.html. Both sites are now defunct.