eHarmony: 20% of people are unmatchable

[jackola]

After the post I made about same sex relationships not allowed on eHarmony.com, I received several comments from people that said they were rejected from the service. That sounded odd to me, so I thought about reasons (based on those comments) that one might get rejected.

To: eHarmony Customer Care

Do you reject people for being atheist?

Do you reject people that indicate low sexual attraction to or low interest in "the beauty of" the opposite sex in their profile questions?

Do you reject people for having liberal viewpoints?

Do you have plans to include same sex profil matching services in the future?

Do you have plans to allow all people of all religious viewpoints to participate?

These questions are very direct and thus I would like direct answers. I understand the goals of your site and your mission.

Thank you!

Very professional, I thought.

Their response is typical, but interesting:

Dear eHarmony Customer,

Thank you for writing eHarmony.

20% of the people will still be determined as unmatchable upon answering the Personality Profile.

The system does not give specific answers on this information.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Thank you for using eHarmony and please let me know if I can help you in the future.

I'll take that as a yes, yes, yes, no, no.

Comments

[tinyshinykey.livejournal.com]

mhmm.. ditto the comments about rejection. I badmouth them everytime I see a commercial on TV. heh. they should call it ehalleluiapraisejesushatesfags.com ...or something like that.

[lakeguy.livejournal.com]

good website address

[dancingdrew.livejournal.com]

You've been condemned to everlasting aloneness by an internet matchmaking site.

[lakeguy.livejournal.com]

ashleymadison.com is the way to go :P

The Ashley Madison Agency - Romantic Rendezvous' for Attached Adults

[bandwagonpete.livejournal.com]

heh, that sites just sad and trashy.

[lakeguy.livejournal.com]

yes I know, I was being silly, ironicly I know where it is hosted from lol

[italiangm.livejournal.com]

A snippet from a critical article written by eharmony user Joel Keller, quoting Marylyn Warren, eHarmony's senior vice president:

She did deny, however, that people are rejected for their religious beliefs, an anecdotal complaint that is usually cited by users because eHarmony markets to Christian radio stations and publications. "Our big thing is that we want to do something about the divorce rate in this country. Divorce is an issue that cuts across every religion and nationality, and we want to be there for all these people."

Indeed, none of the people I spoke to sensed that the site was overly Christian in its marketing or that their matches leaned towards the religious. In fact, Tanya Davis, who is a devout Methodist, said that she got a lot of non-Christian matches, "even one whose profile said, 'I am getting way too many matches that are all about spirituality. There is more to life.' Geez!"

According to Marylyn Warren, problems like Davis' occur when people don't fill out the "About Me" section of the profile correctly. Usually a call to customer support will allow a person to change a profile that is giving unsatisfactory matches.

Entire article at http://www.blacktable.com/keller040811.htm

From a USA Today article:

To date, eHarmony says it has turned away fewer than 10% of potential members. Rejects include people who are separated or have been married four or more times, as well as those whose test results indicate they are depressed or not telling the truth. Because eHarmony's research shows that a marriage entered into at a young age has a lower-than-usual success rate — you're also out of luck if you're under 21.

Entire article at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-06-02-eharmony_x.htm

Also see a skeptical but healthy review by another eharmony client at http://www.richardposey.com/ehprofile.htm

[starliner.livejournal.com]

did i hear something about e-harmony going public over the last few weeks? if so maybe shareholders never ending greed will force them to be more inclusive.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

Didn't eHarmony start out as a dating service for militia gun freaks?

[amboy00.livejournal.com]

Online dating is for losers. Oh wait, that includes me. :-(

[jonatahgypsy.livejournal.com]

Last summer, my friends convinced me to create an online dating profile to... well, thereason's not important, but I decided to use eHarmony because I had heard their ads on (Christian) radio before. I took the matching quiz five different times, thinking it was a glitch. I didn't realize it was because they were fascists.

[hollywoodsmile7.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea they discriminated like that. Fuck 'em.