Other Software > Developer's Corner
Consumating’s Ill-Fated Point System: Nice Blog Essay
Deozaan:
Did you see the other post he made? The guy who co-founded Consumating with him sent him an e-mail:
On Thu, 14 Apr 2005, Adam Mathes wrote:
We should really get rid of the popularity stats — that was an Über Personals thing and I’m not sure it makes sense for Consumating.
What do you think?
--- End quote ---
His response?
Ben Brown wrote:
Nope. Popularity is key. Its like high school. People love it. In fact, I was thinking of adding a little “Your popularity score” thing in the corner.
It adds to the game-like aspects of the site. People want to know where they stand, and trying to become more popular encourages repeat visits.
--- End quote ---
Um, what? Why would you want to encourage high school behavior on a dating site? High school is that time in life when the stupid status game is the problem! Major red flag right there. Anyone told me my idea was like high school, I'd realize instantly it was a terrible, terrible idea that only brought out the worst in most people.
Going to Jr. High/High School is a good experience in that it teaches you that any time humans get a chance to feel superior than others, they will take that chance and abuse it and often become the worst they can be. I learned history in US public schools (which means I don't know it very well) but even I know that most of the problems in the world throughout history, or even today, are because one group of people thinks they are superior to another. And the truth about this article is that really, it's just all about the "Gold Stars." The things people judge others by in order to place a status on them, more often than not, is (at best) of as much value as a gold star.
App's post describes this perfectly.
Ralf Maximus:
Um, what? Why would you want to encourage high school behavior on a dating site?
--- End quote ---
Obviously, Ben Brown had a wonderful high-school dating experience, and is completely oblivious to the rest of the world that did not. All those crazy teen-angst movies? Does not get them. He saw Pretty In Pink and assumed it was dubbed in French, it made so little sense. It's this bit though:
Nope. Popularity is key. Its like high school. People love it. In fact, I
was thinking of adding a little “Your popularity score” thing in the corner.
--- End quote ---
...which completely seals his cluelessness about humanity. Nobody loves the popularity thing in school. The universal dread of all high school students is getting branded unpopular. Even the ultra-popular worry about it. It's the constant thrumming high-voltage whitenoise that underscores the entire high-school experience. It's the driving force behind teen suicides and mass shootings.
And he wanted to build a social community around that.
Lashiec:
What's this 'popularity' thing? Is it for real? I thought it only existed in movies and in those MTV shows showing the 'real life' of the first weird guy they found down the street :P
housetier:
Lashiec it is for real. And I am glad I was in this system for one year only; I never understood what them highschoolers liked about it. While they made the popular ones even more popular, outsiders where pushed to the side, and eventually over the edge...
I am so glad we don't have "ranks", every user's opinion is taken into account (if they care to voice it of course). I truly believe that dc.com is close to perfection, but not too close ;) If it were to close we might reach perfection and any change after that would make it worse.
Anyway, that article got me thinking about my peer project and how I might make it more attractive to new user while at the same time keep the current ones.
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