I know that the current state of online dating is a wasteland. No one has to tell anyone that. I've experienced it first hand. But, I've always thought that that was because online dating apps are still very archaic and blunt in their design.

There are a couple notable ones that have a few creative mechanisms - like eHarmony and Bumble. But eHarmony seems to be too top-heavy, and Bumble just doesn't work (and they don't seem to want to tweak their system at all). I did notice that Match seems to have a function that works something like, "Hey, you like techno music? Here is a techno music event coming up, and here are some other people who also like techno music". That's pretty innovative.

As comparison, look at how online retailers and sources of information on the internet today not only now help you find exactly what you are looking for, and provide many sources of that product or service, but will also bring up other factors that maybe you hadn't considered. Like, if you are going to buy that book online, did you know that it's not the first book in the series?

But, online dating apps are still blunt instruments. Here's a picture. Here's a tweet's worth of text space. Here are some stupid questions or cheeky prompts. "OMG! You like cheese, too?"

I always thought that using personality tests - like MBTI or Enneagram - were good ideas. That's what eHarmony uses. But, that's where eHarmony's usefulness stops. Also, MBTI and Enneagram are both trademarked and copyrighted. You would have to invent something from scratch, and then hope that it's not too similar for a lawsuit.

Then, I just watched a reaction video about a woman on TikTok describing her worst date. She had been talking to a man for a couple weeks. They were hitting it off. They decided that their first date would be to a football game. But, instead of going to the football game, they had a quick hook-up in a hotel. It was his idea. Then he lied about having to go somewhere serious immediately after the hook-up.

She was kinda okay with everything, until she found out that he had verifiably lied to her about having to leave right after the hook-up. She realized that she had been used, and she was both impressed and disgusted about how much energy he had spent on her, over the past couple weeks, just to have a hook-up - and then willingly lied in order to leave as soon as possible.

I felt for her. Maybe he was hot, so she made allowances. Maybe she truly felt a connection. Maybe everything he said was a lie, from beginning to end. Maybe she's just a kind soul that gave him every benefit of the doubt, and he just kept getting ridiculous.

This happens both ways, and these anecdotes are a large part of the conversations here in this subreddit. And, these experiences - while perpetrated by a minority of the population - sour the entire experience for everyone. So, how do we filter those out as much as possible?

I was thinking of a Yelp type of review function, where people could write a review about another person on that other person's profile. But, that would quickly turn very bad.

It comes down to number of interactions someone is having with other people. This is not necessarily body count. Interactions. And it can be vague and general. Like, a message like, "This person has matched with 17 people, and has exchanged messages with 12 of them, in the past month", might be useful in order to see people's trends. It might also keep people honest.

Or, I was also thinking, instead of only being able to see people who "like" you on online dating apps, you also see people who swiped past you. That might hurt feelings, but it might help people be more realistic and practical, and to help them stop "liking" the same person - over and over again - when that other person just always swipes past you.

These ideas might be a good disrupter in the online dating app market. What is your opinion?