Hi! I really am interested in the future of online dating and I believe it is in videos. Here is why:
A video on Youtube of me talking about this idea with the code C6Iy7_7IKf0 Cannot put the link here so type it up in the browser or read this long post.
Most people are fed up with online dating. It's so easy to write anything and get away with lying about yourself. People are more able to spot a liar if they are required to make a video introduction instead of a paragraph "About me" which most don't like writing anyways. Also, because you cannot hear their voice, see their face or feel their energy, you cannot really get a feel if you would actually want to date that person in real life. So an online dating service that forces people to be honest and transparent will only attract serious people and repel fakes and scammers.
The next step is a full body shot properly clothed in a doorway because all doorways are about the same size so the person won't be able to lie about their height. And with their arms at their sides they won't be able to take silly selfie shots or make silly faces and gang signs.
People want to know who they will be dating. The details about their life is not as important as I know attraction is not a choice and it happens in real time.
The thing is this would have to probably be a pay site if we cannot use YouTube for it which is free to upload and use their servers for the videos. But I wonder if any of you have heard of couch-surfing because that site is all about Christian values of being hospitable to traveling people so they don't have to pay for a hotel or hostel they would just crash on your couch for a night or two while they explore the city you live in. That website has a way of verifying where you live with a postcard sent to your address and this would make sure that there are only real people with real addresses signed up to the dating site and only one profile per person.
Talking to my friend on skype about it just now. Here is a piece of the conversation:
It would anger those who on okcupid have invested so much in algorithms to figure out what works in this current model of a picture and a paragraph.
[4:44:36 PM] Pietas: but what works is you must be really good looking or have a professional picture done
[4:44:44 PM] Pietas: and you must have an amazing profile that is the truth about yourself
[4:45:01 PM] Pietas: but what i want to do is a lot easier for regular looking people to make it
[4:45:22 PM] Pietas: because there is no need for someone to be a celebrity looks or have 100 amazing interests
[4:45:25 PM] Pietas: they can just be themselves
The site would not let outsiders to view the videos or pictures, only those who put a video, full body shot in doorway with arms down at their sides and was verified to actually exist at a real address could view this site. They will be unlisted videos on YouTube or private galleries. That way everyone who really is serious about a relationship and putting themselves out there will be in this community and no people who are looking to mess around with Photoshop. So the pay fee would only cover the cost of whatever mail costs is necessary to send postcards to them to verify their address and quite possibly that would be it because YouTube has a way of messaging so if they like the video they see they can contact the user through Google+ or Youtube. I do not own this idea but I am not looking to make money off it. I believe we must charge for it to work because it does cost money to send postcards to people but the site owners have no right to profit on it. That's why I love this particular site which is completely free. But it needs improvement.
The picture of me in the doorway isn't that great but I wanted to take the lead and just do it. I had to take off address labels off that box in photoshop after I realized it was on there. Hey well you have to start somewhere. I was thinking if I waited to put a perfect professional photo up then that would intimidate people to join on through this movement. So start small and then work better over time. You could also take this picture in an open car door cafe door, any door would do to give everyone a real idea of your height and body shape. Of course we all had our surprises of meeting people offline who don't look a thing like they did in their pictures! So I am thinking that people would be required to upload a new video every few months to make sure.
Photoshop is ok as long as the person is not changing what they look like in it to stretch themselves to look taller, changing colors of their hair in the picture, what else? Oh yea, putting black circles over other people's faces. No one likes to see that.
Regulations? It's imperative to solve the problems of sites like this. If you do not impose regulations then you have one line profiles and smiley faces everywhere and photos of biceps or breests. You know what I mean I had to spell it wrong because this site is so censored itself and yet you see many women posting pouty lips or bedroom eye selfies with lots of glances down the shirt. This is a Christian site and you see it here just as much as POF. I noticed you wrote nothing on your page just looking around. So on my site there will only be serious people and then the women will feel safe from people spamming the with copy and paste messages or just emails of "Hi how are you". It would be like speed dating online. If you go to the message page you see a string of messages and nothing stands out because it's all homogenous. Especially for a woman's inbox which she has to scroll so far through to read anything decent and then she gets frustrated and quits within two weeks of signing up. I am not sure how the site will look but I was thinking it would be using YouTube and photo sharing websites. This site also does not show conversation history like Okcupid so it's way behind.
some regulation is needed but you must remember these sites are businesses. More users = more money. A site like the one you suggested will chase many legit users along with the scammers (especially the sending mail to their address part).
It will also be costly if you plan to approve every picture/video for each profile before uploading. You may find a niche of serious users but I doubt it will be enough to keep up with maintenance cost.
Thank you for the tips but it could even run through a private wordpress blog. With links to unlisted youtube videos. The people would click a picture of the person they want to meet and then it would take them to the youtube channel free to upload to remember and then they would contact that user through youtube. The costs would then have to start small in sending the postcard but in USA it's only 50 cents. Europe is 1.20. So it's really not so much.
I also do not have any job and I am not doing this to make any money I already have money for daily life and am willing to devote my time to maintain the wordpress blog.
If they are mature enough to go through with putting their address, face, voice, and full body shot out there then I doubt there needs someone to moderate their inboxes. YouTube can take care of it. And of course God will be watching over them.
I mean if they wanted they could send me $1.20 in paypal and then spend $1.20 on the postcard to mail it back to me.
That's only $2.40 per person overseas or $1.00 per person in the USA and it's for life. That's a lot cheaper than all the other dating sites which are expensive and require recurring monthly costs.
There is no sin in this. Where is sin? In those monthly services where people are greedy and actually making money off it.
-if you are not going to pre-approve the photos/videos before they can be seen then scammers will upload blank photos/videos and make the regulation invalid
-you'd be surprised to find out how many persons (legit users) do not want a mail sent to their actual address
-if you limit site access to countries where it is cheap to send mail then you further limit your already limited number of users
-you are overlooking expenses. paypal will take a cut from your income and let's not forget the paypal scammers through credit card charge-backs. and even if you use other sites to upload your photos/videos, web hosting still isn't cheap.
Thank you for asking these questions. I love answering.
-Of course I will be seeing photos and videos before they go up. The first video. Scammers won't be able to breach this. Scammers thrive on sites where people can hide behind what they write and upload any picture. But a picture, a video AND an address? They won't be able to touch it.
-I know there are many people online who do not want a postcard sent. But there are thousands of users on couch surfing who have done this already because they are actually serious about traveling long distances to meet people. IF people just want to find people in their own zipcode, they are not really putting themselves out there and they can just join a meetup group in their locality. There are actually ten million users on Couch Surfing I just checked. That's a lot of people who really want to meet other people and are not poking around afraid to step away from their computer. A lot of introverted people are afraid but God told me through experience that I needed to get out of my own shell so I am hoping other introverts do the same.
-At first I am only looking for US users and countries where it does not cost more than $1.20 to send a postcard. So I am not sure which countries you are referring to and the ones where it's impossible to get mail sent to like maybe Syria won't be looking online to find love in this way in the first place nor have access to a way to photograph/video themselves.
-It probably won't be big enough at first to make a difference and if it did get really big like 1000s of people using it then of course it would need to expand and cost more. But God provides for this. I am not worried about what if people have problems in paypal in the future and am only looking for a few people like around 20-30 to start it. People should not be so picky and you know if the world's population was just that many they would have to pair off anyways. And I mean of course be picky towards the people who are not confident enough to put themselves out there. The only person who knows where they live is the moderator (me and a friend who does this site or my wife if this is what we will be doing). If we all want someone who loves God and puts the relationship first then it's only a matter of lifestyles and personality, and physical traits. Everyone writes the same thing here already that they want someone who is Christian. Since this is a Christian site this is redundant. There must be more effort and it just shows the person was scared to be found out. But by who are they afraid if they are looking for a wife/husband they should not be afraid of being found out. They would be found out sooner or later and better right away than years down the road leading to divorce.
Starting with 20-30 members will not generate enough income to run the site especially if the fee is one time. But if you would like to spend from your pocket to make it happen then more power to you.
"People should not be so picky and you know if the world's population was just that many they would have to pair off anyways."
It doesn't work that way. You need to grow as fast as possible. A dating website with only a few dozen members is useless. Checking each photo/video will be time consuming with numerous members but if you have nothing better to do then more power to you.
"A lot of introverted people are afraid but God told me through experience that I needed to get out of my own shell so I am hoping other introverts do the same."
You would need a better plan to get the introverts out than "hope"
