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Really love this phrase: "the tyranny of the marginal user"
Especially as someone who found real friends (and through them partners) through OkCupid back in the day, a lot of this resonates.
https://nothinghuman.substack.com/p/the-tyranny-of-the-marginal-user
@megmac I remember back in the day the OkCupid people posted a detailed analysis of why other dating sites, and match dot com in particular, were garbage at actually connecting you with people you'd want to date, blaming it on misaligned incentives: For most people, finding a good romantic match means you're _done_ trawling dating sites for a long while. But that's exactly what companies focused on Growth and Active Daily Users don't want to have happen!
We're not going to be like that, they said.
Not so long afterward -- more than a year, less than five, if memory serves -- they sold the company to match dot com.
@megmac An excellent succinct description of the problem. Also makes me glad OkCupid was still good 12 years ago when I needed it.
@Chigaze @megmac I haven't looked at dating apps since OKCupid helped me meet my partner around 2007, so it surprises me to hear them described.
In particular I recall that on most dating apps, only a minority of users posted photos of themselves, and it was considered really tasteless to choose who to contact based primarily on their photos.
So I'm taken aback that it sounds like current dating apps frontload photos before you read what the person says.
That would never have worked for me.
@megmac Very interested, but what a bleak ending. My take is: invest you time and attention in #opensource solutions, because if a VC investor tries to take them away you can always fork them.
It's not the best solution, but it's the one I've got.
@megmac it seems to me that the same applies to the marginal voter too
@megmac It's also the tyranny of the vast majority, alas.
*We* are the margin. The majority doesn't want nor appreciates complexity.
And since the Blood God requires growth, and not a stable "niche", anything "successful" tries to capture a larger base and eventually succumbs.
@megmac Definitely saw this happen at Quora.