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HughPickens.com [hughpickens.com] writes:

Olga Khazan reports at The Atlantic that in response to a rapid uptick in the number of OkCupid users interested in non-monogamous relationships, the online-dating behemoth is adding a feature for polyamorous people [theatlantic.com] allowing users who are listed as “seeing someone,” “married,” or “in an open relationship” on the platform to link their profiles and search for other people to join their relationship. "It's a very big deal and I'm delighted that OkCupid has gotten this far with it [cnn.com]," says Anita Illig Wagner, founder of Practical Polyamory. "I hope other sites take it seriously and we find ourselves welcome in even more major websites."

According to the company’s data, 24 percent of its users are “seriously interested” in group sex and forty-two percent would consider dating someone already involved in an open or polyamorous relationship. “It seems that now people are more open to polyamory as a concept,” says Jimena Almendares, OkCupid’s chief product officer. Though specialized dating sites for polyamorous people exist, this appears to be the first instance of a mainstream online-dating platform allowing two users to search for sexual partners together, as a unit. Almendares says OkCupid is agnostic about the kinds of relationships people pursue on its platform—it’s simply following the numbers. “Finding your partner is very important. You should have the option to express specifically and exactly who you are and what you need [okcupid.com].”

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