Your heart

A little while ago I posted about a fleeting adventure into Match.com. (I still receive those damn emails…only re-animated.) Shortly there after, and due to a myriad of factors (mainly bourbon boredom) I invented a hobby. Let me set the ground work.

My theory about Match.com is that it arises as legitimate because of its mere arising. To clarify, the service exists and people believe it works from that existence. Their belief (even in a minor percent) compels them to sign up, hence making the site actually legitimate, and cycling back to the beginning (at least in terms of the business’ existence). The interesting part is that the existence (and so validity) does not rely the company or the service, but people’s willingness to use it as a tool. Analogously, a hammer’s utilitarian value is mainly from its continued use rather than effectiveness (though effective), for people are invested in the concept of its use (I’m sure there are potential options for alternate hammers we have never been willing to look into…maybe a change would avoid this).

So, I considered this while browsing Facebook. Lo’ and behold, an ad for an alternate and free (to a point) matchmaking service. Figuring “what the hell” I decided to see what this other lesser Match.com had to offer. After concocting a quasi-me profile, I began looking around. Here is where I lost some hope. The majority of the people on this service were non-paying members (and I am positive not all of them were doing it with bourbon and snark). Non-paying members were afforded the luxury of having a profile, view others’ profiles, and communication on a “flirt” basis (see below). This led me to a conclusion: if you are not willing to pay for a service that intends to “find you soul mate”, how invested could you really be?

Not very invested.

An aside: In the process of creating this profile I had a few members send me “flirts”. These consist of 5 pre-scripted responses:
(1) “Hey there![sic]”
(2) “I like your essay”
(3) “How are you?”
(4) “I would like to talk to you.”
(5) “I like your photo.”
Let me tell you, nothing says “I’m interested in you as a soul mate” than selecting a response from a list. I opted to reply with (1), as it was the least sincere and most emphatic.