OKCupid, why don't you like me?
December 11, 2010 9:13 PM Subscribe
OKCupid Question: Why doesn't my profile show up in Match Search to other people?
[Anonymous because I don't want my username attached to OKCupid.]
So obviously this seems to be a question better answered by the OKCupid staff but they haven't gotten back to me and I'm kind of sick of asking other people to search me up repeatedly to see if I show or not.
Has anyone had this problem before? Is it just a bug or have I accidentally turned something off in my settings? We've tried multiple different ways of searching me up, from really broad searches to the very specific. It's been a consistent no-show for my profile.
[Anonymous because I don't want my username attached to OKCupid.]
So obviously this seems to be a question better answered by the OKCupid staff but they haven't gotten back to me and I'm kind of sick of asking other people to search me up repeatedly to see if I show or not.
Has anyone had this problem before? Is it just a bug or have I accidentally turned something off in my settings? We've tried multiple different ways of searching me up, from really broad searches to the very specific. It's been a consistent no-show for my profile.
Is it possible you have something like "online now" selected in the search options when you're running the search? Sometimes when I can't find someone or am not getting results I realize OKC has overridden what I thought I chose in favor of "online now."
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:23 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:23 PM on December 11, 2010
I'm pretty sure you don't show up in your own searches. So, you wouldn't see yourself. I assume you have someone else searching for you with their account, but is it possible that this person previously clicked the "Hide" button on your profile and forgot they did it?
posted by John Cohen at 9:31 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by John Cohen at 9:31 PM on December 11, 2010
A lot of people have their search settings to exclude people who _____, sometimes by default, where blank could be just about anything: profile completion, politics, religion, "cats" as a keyword. Not that you do or your friends do, of course. Their search ranking algoriths are probably stupidly complex too, and probably proprietary.
Disclaimer: haven't used it in 1.5 yrs.
posted by supercres at 9:35 PM on December 11, 2010
Disclaimer: haven't used it in 1.5 yrs.
posted by supercres at 9:35 PM on December 11, 2010
You probably won't show up in a search for yourself on your own computer, no matter what you do.
Someone else, who's signed in and on a different computer,
should be able to find you, provided the search parameters include you.
posted by johnlvs2run at 9:51 PM on December 11, 2010
Someone else, who's signed in and on a different computer,
should be able to find you, provided the search parameters include you.
posted by johnlvs2run at 9:51 PM on December 11, 2010
You probably won't show up in a search for yourself on your own computer, no matter what you do.
Someone else, who's signed in and on a different computer,
should be able to find you,
I don't see why the computer matters. If someone else is logged into their OKCupid account, they should be able to find you no matter what computer they're using.
But as far as searching for your own profile, I can confirm that it doesn't work. I just tried doing a search that would normally yield my OKCupid profile. I wasn't in the results.
posted by John Cohen at 10:12 PM on December 11, 2010
Someone else, who's signed in and on a different computer,
should be able to find you,
I don't see why the computer matters. If someone else is logged into their OKCupid account, they should be able to find you no matter what computer they're using.
But as far as searching for your own profile, I can confirm that it doesn't work. I just tried doing a search that would normally yield my OKCupid profile. I wasn't in the results.
posted by John Cohen at 10:12 PM on December 11, 2010
Dumb question, but are you getting attention on the site?
If you're getting noticed, your profile works and you're just being anxious over nothing.
If you're not getting noticed? The problem is most likely not with some glitch in the system. It's probably that your profile and/or way of sending messages needs work. The OKCupid folks have great advice about this. Follow it. Even if you think your profile is killer and you are reaching out to potential dates in the best possible way, be ruthless with yourself. Is there anything you could improve, at all? Even a little?
posted by Sara C. at 10:35 PM on December 11, 2010
If you're getting noticed, your profile works and you're just being anxious over nothing.
If you're not getting noticed? The problem is most likely not with some glitch in the system. It's probably that your profile and/or way of sending messages needs work. The OKCupid folks have great advice about this. Follow it. Even if you think your profile is killer and you are reaching out to potential dates in the best possible way, be ruthless with yourself. Is there anything you could improve, at all? Even a little?
posted by Sara C. at 10:35 PM on December 11, 2010
(Also, if you really are concerned that it is really a glitch, try having someone search specifically for your username. If it doesn't come up, that would really be worrying.)
posted by Sara C. at 10:37 PM on December 11, 2010
posted by Sara C. at 10:37 PM on December 11, 2010
I'm kind of sick of asking other people to search me up repeatedly to see if I show or not.
It sounds like the OP is asking others to search for him.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 10:47 PM on December 11, 2010
It sounds like the OP is asking others to search for him.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 10:47 PM on December 11, 2010
From the original question, it reads as if he's asking people to do a search for potential matches that would include him (e.g. "male, 18-25, located within 20 miles of Chicago"), not a search of his specific profile.
If others are searching for his profile by name and not getting it, there's nothing for us to tell him to do aside from pursue it with OKCupid management. What the hell could a bunch of strangers on the internet do about something like that?
posted by Sara C. at 11:04 PM on December 11, 2010
If others are searching for his profile by name and not getting it, there's nothing for us to tell him to do aside from pursue it with OKCupid management. What the hell could a bunch of strangers on the internet do about something like that?
posted by Sara C. at 11:04 PM on December 11, 2010
From the original question, it reads as if he's asking people to do a search for potential matches that would include him (e.g. "male, 18-25, located within 20 miles of Chicago"), not a search of his specific profile.
If others are searching for his profile by name and not getting it, there's nothing for us to tell him to do aside from pursue it with OKCupid management.
I don't really know what a "search of his [or her] specific profile" is (we don't know the OP's gender), and I don't think OKCupid lets you search by username (though, of course, you could Google for it). The OP says this is about the profile not coming up in Match Search, the thing where you search by gender, age range, location, etc.
So I assume the OP has had someone else use their account to search for the OP's exact details (for instance, setting the minimum and maximum age to the OP's age), with no restrictions, and the profile still doesn't show up. If that's what's happening, I don't know how we could help the OP since that would seem to be a user-specific technical glitch.
If you haven't tried that yet, try it, and make sure the person searching for you doesn't have a random restriction in their default settings (only searching for people with photos, only searching for people of a certain religion, etc.).
You could try contacting OKCupid on Twitter. They claim to respond to direct messages.
posted by John Cohen at 11:31 PM on December 11, 2010
If others are searching for his profile by name and not getting it, there's nothing for us to tell him to do aside from pursue it with OKCupid management.
I don't really know what a "search of his [or her] specific profile" is (we don't know the OP's gender), and I don't think OKCupid lets you search by username (though, of course, you could Google for it). The OP says this is about the profile not coming up in Match Search, the thing where you search by gender, age range, location, etc.
So I assume the OP has had someone else use their account to search for the OP's exact details (for instance, setting the minimum and maximum age to the OP's age), with no restrictions, and the profile still doesn't show up. If that's what's happening, I don't know how we could help the OP since that would seem to be a user-specific technical glitch.
If you haven't tried that yet, try it, and make sure the person searching for you doesn't have a random restriction in their default settings (only searching for people with photos, only searching for people of a certain religion, etc.).
You could try contacting OKCupid on Twitter. They claim to respond to direct messages.
posted by John Cohen at 11:31 PM on December 11, 2010
I just went to OKCupid (signed in under my own account) and searched for my own account by username. Using the search box right there on the top of the very front page of the site, practically the first thing you see when the page loads after you sign in.
My own account came up.
The OP should try this, and then if their profile doesn't come up, they should follow up with OKC staff.
Re searching in Match Search - it seems to me that the OKC system is too complex to insure that any given user will definitely show up in any given search for matches. If a given profile doesn't show up in a particular search, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
posted by Sara C. at 11:46 PM on December 11, 2010
My own account came up.
The OP should try this, and then if their profile doesn't come up, they should follow up with OKC staff.
Re searching in Match Search - it seems to me that the OKC system is too complex to insure that any given user will definitely show up in any given search for matches. If a given profile doesn't show up in a particular search, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
posted by Sara C. at 11:46 PM on December 11, 2010
I just went to OKCupid (signed in under my own account) and searched for my own account by username. Using the search box right there on the top of the very front page of the site, practically the first thing you see when the page loads after you sign in.
OK, so you can search by username ... but that's not what the OP is asking about.
Re searching in Match Search - it seems to me that the OKC system is too complex to insure that any given user will definitely show up in any given search for matches. If a given profile doesn't show up in a particular search, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
Look, if I search for people of my gender, age, sexual orientation, and location (with the smallest radius), who are online now (or in the past day), I get just one page of results. My own profile is plainly not among these results. I don't see anything complex about this: I'm not showing up because the search is done from my own account.
posted by John Cohen at 12:27 AM on December 12, 2010
OK, so you can search by username ... but that's not what the OP is asking about.
Re searching in Match Search - it seems to me that the OKC system is too complex to insure that any given user will definitely show up in any given search for matches. If a given profile doesn't show up in a particular search, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
Look, if I search for people of my gender, age, sexual orientation, and location (with the smallest radius), who are online now (or in the past day), I get just one page of results. My own profile is plainly not among these results. I don't see anything complex about this: I'm not showing up because the search is done from my own account.
posted by John Cohen at 12:27 AM on December 12, 2010
You won't show up in your own search results if your preferences are to show people of the opposite gender.
posted by zippy at 1:35 AM on December 12, 2010
posted by zippy at 1:35 AM on December 12, 2010
If I look for myself by typing in www.okcupid.com/profile/insertokcupidusernamehere, then my profile will show up. If I type my username into the search box (around upper left hand corner), then I'll also show up. I have my settings set so that if you're not signed in, you can't see my profile. But if I search myself using the age, gender, relationship status, when last online, etc. search option, then I'm pretty sure I don't show up.
If you don't want us to see, then try making a throwaway account and then try doing a search for yourself.
posted by skybluesky at 3:33 AM on December 13, 2010
If you don't want us to see, then try making a throwaway account and then try doing a search for yourself.
posted by skybluesky at 3:33 AM on December 13, 2010
No, don't create a "throwaway account" unless you want to violate OKCupid's terms of use. They moderate the profiles and they could delete both of your profiles if you violate the terms of use.
posted by John Cohen at 10:56 AM on December 13, 2010
posted by John Cohen at 10:56 AM on December 13, 2010
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OK, but could you give us your OKCupid username? You could tell us this by contacting the mods (metafilter.com/contact). That might help us see what's going on.
posted by John Cohen at 9:15 PM on December 11, 2010