Or in other words - how many would be interested in a dating site (targeted at aspies primarily, but open to all neurotypes) with 2 levels of access:
Free - basic profiles with ability to search manually, most likely ad-supported too
Premium - automatic analysis of your likes/dislikes and application of machine learning methods to find potential matches for you, self-correcting if you tell it about matches that didn't work out and how (how much you tell it is optional), it'll learn and auto-correct the model, leading to better matching in future
This would be a commercially-orientated project from day one, but free for basic access, and with a potential free opening period to gauge interest. In the interests of transparency I have to declare that this would be run as a for-profit enterprise by me personally, though if it takes off I will spend some of the funds on AFF-related things.
That would be the idea in the free option - if it's pure pay, it's unlikely that it'll build up a large enough userbase to be worthwhile
Just designing a data model now - the key to success in the matching system will be to have a large database of reasonably accurate data and some preliminary "do you like this person?" type questions
LOL I would be interested in looking at the site, as for participation I probably would not. I would not want to experience the rejection of no one taking interest in my profile.
Then again IRL I dont want a funeral because of the embarassment of no one showing up.
I guess this is just a quirk of my personality, though
The way i'm designing this thing, the more people sign up, the more accurate and targeted any potential matches are - if someone signs up and looks compatible based on the current model, then they WILL show up if you search for matches
Disclosure: I just voted yes on this myself, and edited to subtract 1 yes vote (saves having to click "view results" every time I look at this thread)
And another note:
I'm putting everything I can think of into this model, including some very "probing" and personal questions, but when the site itself goes up nearly every single one of these questions will be optional to enter, and you will be able to reveal your answers to only the computer (in order to help with matchmaking). The theory is that the more data to go off, the better a model can be built of you as a person.
If you choose not to publically reveal any of your answers, it will not be revealed to anyone. I will also investigate methods to prevent even myself from reading these answers while still enabling the computer to process it (likely through some kind of hashing).
For premium i'm wanting to keep the price as low as possible - will not know yet how much it'll cost in terms of hosting (since the matchmaking algorithm will use a certain amount of CPU and other resources), once I know that my plan is basically to take the basic cost and add on a small enough profit margin to make the whole thing worthwhile without making it too expensive for end users.
This is the model thus far, be warned that some of the questions are VERY personal, but most of them will never be revealed except to the automated algorithms.
My idea is that if a match does not work out, one of those hidden variables may be the reason why. Please do not be offended by some of the more in-depth ones. The algorithm I plan on using is not a simple search but a more in-depth probabilistic based approach that can assign weights to different aspects that seem to play more influence on whether matches are successful or not.
So, to put it simply - I believe that human attraction (like anything else in nature) can be analysed mathematically if enough raw data is available. Some of the raw data asked for might however seem offensive.
One thing i'd like to ask is for extra possible aspects to add - the more details available the better. The interests section in particular possibly has some bias towards subjects that I myself find interesting.
person
physical features
chronological age
guessed ages
average guessed age
hair colour
hair length
hair style
eye colour
rough height
gender
male
female
f2m trans
m2f trans
intersex - male identity
intersex - female identity
attracted to gender(s)
sexuality
body - IMPORTANT: deeply personal and potentially embarrassing, display warning before showing these questions
females
rough breast size
sensitive nipples?
shaved pubic region?
males
easy erection?
ease of orgasm / sensitivity
with nearly any slight stimulation
needing lots of stimulation
fetishes (if any)
believe viewing of pornography is acceptable (assuming all involved are consenting adults)
in relationships?
virgin?
geography - IMPORTANT: nothing more specific should be disclosed
country
state / county
marital status
single and looking
single and not looking
in monogamous relationship, unmarried
in open relationship, unmarried
married, monogamous
married, open
career
industry
job title
status
employee
happy with job?
contractor / freelancer
regular work?
through an agency?
self-employed business owner
regular clients?
small or large business?
online or offline?
unemployed
jobseeking?
due to disability?
lack of work
personality
general
prefer isolation or company?
large groups of company, or small?
philosophy / politics
ethics
altruism
extreme? (forsaking all possible material wealth)
occassional charitable donations
regular charitable donations
occassional volunteering work (for officially state-recoginised charity or otherwise)
regular volunteer work
greed
proudly so
greedy, but considers it a flaw
not greedy
hedonistic pleasures
in moderation are a good thing
avoided
purpose of your life
are an addiction for you
materialism / dualism
believe everything is reducable to physics and physical laws
believe some aspects of reality are not reducable to physics
believe in a none-physical soul
epistomlogy
purely empiricial
pure reason
reason+empirical
faith / spiritual
political views
general philosophy (capitalist/socialist/libertarian/etc)
party membership / supporter
taxes
abolish
increase for all
decrease for all
flat rate
progressive
regressive
government
should exist in a minimalistic form
is very important and should be respected
should not exist
has flaws and positives
immigration
completely abolish
completely open
quotas
open for particularly talented
open for large investors
illegal/recreational drugs
keep illegal
legalise some (which ones?), keep rest illegal
legalise for medical use
legalise completely
religion
general (christianity/judadism/islam/buddhism/etc etc)
denomination (baptist/catholic/mormon etc)
practicing / not practicing
raised in or self-decided?
interests
misc hobbies
food and drink
drink alcohol?
special occassions only (new years etc)
now and then
regular basis
never
caffeine addict?
sensitive
can take or leave
total junky
coffee?
daily
now and then
never
tea?
daily
now and then
never
green?
herbal?
favourite soft drinks(cola etc) (if any)
favourite other drinks
enjoy fast foods?
favourite foods
pay attention to nutritional/dietary aspects
strict diet - medical reasons
strict diet - general health reasons (including life extension and caloric restriction)
only when trying to lose/gain weight
do any cooking?
simple dishes - "stick it in the oven/microwave"
medium dishes - frying/wok/etc
complex dishes - complex multi-step recipes
enjoy cooking for other people?
media
favourite newspapers?
generally pay attention to
generally do not pay attention to
music
favourite genres
favourite bands
instruments played
instruments preferred
composer/song writer?
genres
in band?
do live shows?
films and TV
favourite genres
favourite TV shows
(per show) casual viewer or religious "can't miss an episode"?
favourite movies
literature
favourite genres
favourite novels
favourite authors
favourite poems
favourite quotes
writer?
professional or hobbyist?
genres?
preferred genres?
games
favourite platforms/consoles (Windows/Linux/Playstation/Xbox/Wii etc etc)
favourite genres
favourite games
solo / multiplayer
co-op / versus
online / same room / LAN
computers
skill level
newbie - can turn on and off, use a web browser and email, need assistance for much more
average
above average - programmers, IT professionals and so on
programming
languages known
preferred languages
development models (XP, TDD, Bazaar, ad-hoc etc)
preferred styles (functional, OOP, declarative etc)
software
most used applications (regardless of preference)
most favourite applications
operating system(s)
dual boot or exclusive?
hardware
# of boxes owned
preferred CPU(s)
preferred GPU(s)
I see a no vote.......
Can I ask whomever that is for some specific criticism? (PM if you want to be anonymous)
Really want to do this as well as it possibly can be done.
Off to sleep here (this time including REM.......), tomorrow I can write some code for this thing
I'm not so sure how you could effectively target Aspies and have a large enough member base to support the site, though... especially at first.
open to all neurotypes, as I said
Could look into those, but I have a feeling they'll only provide a rough score rather than a list of attributes, and won't work for people without accounts on those services.
Anyway, about to setup hosting for this thing
So ,the first phase of this is going to happen ,soon?
Define "soon" - give it perhaps 2 weeks before it's in a usable state for the early tests
may i ask how you plan to attract your userbase? obviously it has to have a good number of people to work.
Primarily through word of mouth and this very post - such an approach has worked before
Bump....
Most likely going to have a signup page middle of next week