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Creepy Guys Inspire Women To Create New Dating App

posted by martyb on Sunday October 05 2014, @02:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the Be-Charming.  Like-a-Prince.  From-Venus. dept.

Hugh Pickens writes:

Tricia Romano reports at the Seattle Times that Susie Lee and Katrina Hess have developed Siren, a new online dating app designed to protect against men who inundate women with messages that are by turns gross, hilarious, objectifying and just plain sad. As online dating options have grown, Lee noticed that her friends' frustration did, too: With every good introduction often came a slew of lewd ones. "I just started looking (at online dating options) and very quickly realized how many things are out there and how immediately my 'creepy meter' went up," Lee says. Lee hopes to change the nature of the messages and put women in the driver’s seat.

The free iPhone app, currently launched to a select market in Seattle in August, allows women to peruse men’s pictures and their answers to the “Question of the Day” (“You found a magic lamp and get three wishes. What are they?”) and view their Video Challenges (“Show us a hidden gem in Seattle”). If a woman is suitably impressed by a man’s answers, she can make herself visible to him. Only then can he see what she looks like. "It’s a far more thoughtful — and cautious — approach than the one taken by the dating app of the moment, Tinder, which is effectively a “hot or not” game, with little information beyond a few photos, age and volunteered biographical tidbits," writes Romano. "And the implicit notion that it’s a “hookup” app can be uncomfortable for some women." Lee and Hess are betting that men are less shallow and want more repartee. And they know that women want a little more flirtation than crude references. After all, Siren’s motto is “Charm Someone’s Pants Off.” “Before the ‘pants off,’ it’s more about charming someone,” says Hess. “Be charming.”

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 05 2014, @09:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 05 2014, @09:52PM (#102191)

    Frankly, this is reading to me like an attempt to capitalize on the professional victims infesting some otherwise good communities lately. You can tell because the disgusting hypocrisy shows quite quickly, in fact it shows in the very first sentence in the summary: "a new online dating app designed to protect against men". Firstly how much of a presumptuous jackass can someone be to think that men are the only ones that do that, secondly if you claim stupid shit like wanting to "protect" a woman you're no better than the stereotypical "go back to the kitchen" type. Pretty sure most women actively looking for a date are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

    Read the summary again. This app has been written by women for women. No one is forcing this app on women for their own good. And, yes, it does appear that they have found an effective way to "take care of themselves".

    I swear, this hysteria was generated completely by people who have never kissed someone let alone dated or had sex.

    Again, you should read the summary or even TFA (Yeah, yeah, heaven forbid. What was I thinking?) Their app was created because they were getting mighty tired of all the inappropriate responses to their profiles on dating websites. Yeah, it kind of sucks that you can no longer introduce yourself on dating websites with your dick pics. Deal with it.

    Also some of the quotes in that article are equally disgusting:

    “I didn’t feel safe on these sites. I felt really exposed,”

    Wow, you put your picture up, your personal information, your turn ons and who knows what else and you suddenly feel attacked and unsafe? Give me a break.

    From reading the summary it would appear that what made them "feel attacked and unsafe" was getting inundated with inappropriate dick pics and other lewd messages. It looks to me like the ladies have already given the guys on these sites all the breaks they are going to get. I'm afraid you will have to change your strategy if you want to visit those dating websites. Yeah, it sucks but if you are sending dick pics, you only have yourself to blame.

    Yes I know I'm ranting but I can't help it anymore. This stuff is following me and affecting every facet of my daily reading, if people just sit there silently it's only going to get worse.

    Yes, you are ranting. If this is affecting every facet of your life then I suggest you adopt a change of strategy. A good start would probably be to refrain from sending dick pics and encouraging other guys to do the same. Until that time, I'm afraid the ladies have found an effective way to block you through their new app. Personally, I can't say I really blame them for coming up with an effective "spam filter". Just sayin'.