Things I didn't need to know...

[andrewducker]

TheSpark is a dating site I was on _ages_ ago. Jesus, thinking about it I've been on it intermittently for over 10 years now! But anyway, seeing as they're now active on FB they've taken to sending me occasional emails with utterly useless information in it.

Like, for instance, the top 10 dateable people on my friends list.

Does it really help me to be told that everyone wants to date Cat? I _know_ Cat! I know she's lovely, and I know that she has this strange effect on everyone in a 50-foot radius of her. How does seeing it in print help?

I know _all_ of my friends - that's why they're my _friends_.

Telling me which of my friends is date-worthy strikes me as the epitome of pointless data-mining. If I hadn't noticed that Flick was attractive to the menfolk by now, would sending me the information in an email actually change the situation?

*sigh*

(As a side-note, if it told me that 17% of my friends would date _me_ that would have been useful information, at least back when I was single. But does The Spark do that? No, it does not.)

Comments

[andrewducker]

Plus, thinking about it, Cat is involved and Flick is married.

Great, so the people who are already in relationships are the ones that people want to date. Thank you Spark, thank you very much. I never would have worked that one out myself.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

You owe it to us to print that top ten list :-)

[andrewducker]

I briefly considered it, before deciding that some people might not appreciate it! (I picked Flick and Cat as two people who are used to a certain amount of attention).

I might ask people next time I get one of these things through - but I've now deleted that email, so I can't go back to it!

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Is this the stuff generated from the Compare People app on FB? I was looking at that app last week and realised people rate higher depending on how many friends they have with the same app as they will have been compared more frequently.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the way they sort people is completely dodgy. I suspect it wasn't written by a statistician.

[andrewducker]

Nope, different app entirely.

It's better than Compare People, insofar as the stats make some kind of sense.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

Compare People is just odd and keeps emailing me to tell me how 2 out of 3 people think I'd make a better mother and 0 out of 2 people think I smell nice.

[andrewducker]

"You have been judged...and found wanting. You will be erased from the time stream and replaced by someone more worthy. Who people will want to spend time on a desert island with."

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

Am I datable at all?

[andrewducker]

I'll let you know on our 6-month anniversary :->

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

I'd put you at the top of any datable list.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

[boggles] Have to wonder about its algorithms!

[andrewducker]

Oh, they're quite simple. It asks people "would you date X?" and then keeps a tally. The top ten is a mix of the number of people who were asked and the percentage who said yes. You were about halfway down the list, because only two people (on my friends list) had been asked, but both of them had said yes.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Oh, so it's like a facebook app or something? Ok, that makes more sense....

[andrewducker]

Sorry, have made it clearer that it was Facebook rather than just using FB as a shorthand :->

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

No, I got that it was FB people it was ranking, just wasn't sure how a random other website was ranking them!

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Compare Me is bollocks because, as well as it favouring people with more friends, who use Compare Me more often, they offer up people more often for voting if they use it a fair bit and, primarily, invite other friends. It's just viral data mining. Mine eg tells me that my worst weakness is not being hard working :)

[coffee-lifeform.livejournal.com]

Does it really help me to be told that everyone wants to date Cat?

If that's me-Cat, I really feel like I should respond, but I don't actually have anything to say...

I could point out that a lot of people equate "dating" someone with "sleeping with" someone, and I think it's more likely people were responding with the latter in mind, as I'm almost entirely undateable. :)

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it's you :->

And yes, there's clearly egregious conflation going on, but that's people for you.

I picked your name off the list because, like Flick, I thought you'd have a sense of humour about it, or at least not take offense :->

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Do I know you? Why are you so "undateable"? And do you deserve the accolade of being in the top ten of Andrew's friends that people want to sleep with? (I'm guessing yes!) ;-)

[tisme.livejournal.com]

I've always thought there must be something slightly wrong with me...I seem to be one of the few people that hasn't been obsessed with Cat at some point, or indeed want to date her...and yet look at the people I *have* dated (except you. You're lovely. Obviously. *cough*)
*is baffled*