I feel like the only way this could work and NOT be enshittified is if it were not-for-profit and community-driven, such that the basic matching algorithm was known to all, customizable for each user, and not subject to a profit motive.
I'd prefer such a thing be free and open-source with a community of stewards, kinda like Wikipedia, but without as much nepotism and hierarchy as their admins. It would also have to be end-to-end encrypted so individual users don't give up their privacy to some central server. There would have to be some interesting fancy encryption so that matches can stay private (or at least encrypted) as well.
To help pay for network resources, people could voluntarily contribute, say, $10 after a nice date, and maybe $100 if they stay together for at least a year (or whatever).
Implemented poorly, it would turn into a massive honeypot and privacy nightmare :( But I would love to see something that happen, just for the sake of making happier people and families.
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I met many of my exes on OkCupid; it used to be a wonderful service before Match.com bought it and turned it into every other swipe-based dating app. But even after that, I still managed to meet my current partner (of 4+ years) on it... I'm not particularly attractive or disgusting, just average, but got lucky and found my person. Many friends met their SOs online as well. For my generation (millennials) it's pretty common. I'm all for these services, I just wish they weren't so profit-driven.
(Video discusses a dating app made by the Japanese government)
I heard about that recently and thought it was interesting, but that can probably only work in high trust cultures with stable governments. In the US, I don't think many people (of any political affiliation) would trust their government to play matchmaker and see all their private messages.
It's a lot easier to make a centralized dating app with a regular server client model than some sort of decentralized peer to peer thing, where the central admins couldn't peek at everyone's matches and private messages and photos.
That Japanese app is also pretty invasive and only supports traditional monogamous marriages leading to childbirth. A western one probably wouldn't and couldn't have the same mentality, unless it wanted to be eHarmony (which, early on, was very strict about who could join).
I'd prefer such a thing be free and open-source with a community of stewards, kinda like Wikipedia, but without as much nepotism and hierarchy as their admins. It would also have to be end-to-end encrypted so individual users don't give up their privacy to some central server. There would have to be some interesting fancy encryption so that matches can stay private (or at least encrypted) as well.
To help pay for network resources, people could voluntarily contribute, say, $10 after a nice date, and maybe $100 if they stay together for at least a year (or whatever).
Implemented poorly, it would turn into a massive honeypot and privacy nightmare :( But I would love to see something that happen, just for the sake of making happier people and families.
-------
I met many of my exes on OkCupid; it used to be a wonderful service before Match.com bought it and turned it into every other swipe-based dating app. But even after that, I still managed to meet my current partner (of 4+ years) on it... I'm not particularly attractive or disgusting, just average, but got lucky and found my person. Many friends met their SOs online as well. For my generation (millennials) it's pretty common. I'm all for these services, I just wish they weren't so profit-driven.