OkCupid Users Can Now Pay to Weed Out Uggos and Fatties
Users of the popular online dating site OkCupid who are looking to avoid sullying their search results with unattractive people can now filter out the undesirables courtesy of a recently installed feature — but they'll have to pay extra for the privilege.
The site recently rolled out a filtering system that allows premium users to select — or, rather, de-select, the physical attributes of potential love interests, thereby eliminating any result that doesn't match.
Among the body types users are invited to ignore: "Overweight," "full figured," "a little extra," and "used up."
OkCupid also allows its paying customers — or "A-List Members" — to choose how attractive they'd like their dating partner to be with the help of a "five-star scoring system determined by OkCupid’s own algorithms."
Asked by Mashable why these features were reserved for premium users, an OkCupid rep said it was "because things will disproportionately be driven to certain people otherwise."
"If everyone could sort through attractiveness," the spokesperson continued, "only very attractive people would get attention."
In response to criticism of the new filtering features from users worried about not being among the chosen ones, OkCupid co-founder Sam Yagan told ABC News that users who don't like it should just avoid identifying themselves as having a less desirable body type.
"The idea that it is somehow pejorative I think just doesn’t hold water, just by the fact that people are choosing to self-identify that way," he said. "You always have an option not to fill in anything you’re not comfortable with revealing about yourself online."
Unfortunately for users opting out of self-identification, the new premium membership system determines the amount you pay based on your body type.
When asked if a thin or average user would be charged a different price to look at body types on the site than a user who is overweight, the spokesperson said "it's possible."
