All of you bevoost.com loyalists are by now fully aware of my frustration with the big-wig online dating sites and their exorbitant monthly fees paired along with a very cruel sense of matchmaking humor. So I have been clandestinely developing my own and am happy to finally announce the launch of pitchlove.com! Before I bombard you with some shameless promotion, I’d like to share two of the more interesting ethical dilemmas I’ve encountered while developing the website.
To Rate or Not to Rate. Top 10’s, Best Of’s, Alexa and Quantcast, Zagat, report cards, workplace performance…we are a rating-, ranking-, score-, and grade-obsessed society. These relative measurements do serve a purpose, though, in commerce. Good performers are awarded; poor performers are punished; survival of the fittest. But do ratings belong on online dating sites?
Let’s say you’re on another dating site and you’ve just watched someone’s video profile. Underneath are five grayed-out stars awaiting your ruling. You might judge the qualities of the video profile, for example its being creative, informative, on-subject. But you might also judge the person, for example his or her personal opinions, physical looks, sound of voice, personality.
Passing judgment on the person enters a gray area of ethics, because the criticizer’s intent could be mean-spirited, or could be constructive. The latter has the potential to yield a positive outcome by helping bring something previously unnoticed or unrecognized to the attention of the “criticizee”, such as having a deep prejudice, uneven shoulders, or a serious unibrow issue.
Pitchlove.com is a dating site aimed at bringing people together. It is about neither maliciousness nor personal improvement. Therefore, there are no rating systems on pitchlove.com.
Subscriptions vs. Advertising. Website development and maintenance is costly in both time and money. The two basic methods of recovering these costs are subscriptions and advertising. It appears that all the major online dating sites have a mix of both. However, I am not a fan (ignore the WP125’s displayed in the left sidebar…) of website advertising: banners, skyscrapers, pop-up boxes, etc. I feel the advertising diminishes the importance of the website content. And if you are like me, you find website advertising extremely annoying, train yourself to avert it, and as a result eventually become numb to it.
Based on this, recovering costs through an “All Advertising & No Subscription” tactic is not an option for me. I’ve decided that pitchlove.com is to adhere to a “zero-tolerance for advertising” policy and a minimal-fee subscription approach. So rush to pitchlove.com to enjoy the absence of commercial advertising!
And now comes the shameless promotion part…
Pitchlove.com is a brand new and exciting online dating site built on three principles: simplicity, transparency and affordability.
Simplicity. It’s officially the end of complicated registrations, unimaginative templates and long written personal profiles. Simply create and upload your own profile video, where you tell about yourself and about what you seek in a partner, all in your own words, with your own voice. Be creative and have fun!
Transparency. See and hear others exactly as they are. We all know that chemistry is the most important factor when meeting someone new. Video profiles can bring you one step closer to meeting someone special.
Affordability. Finding your match should not be expensive! Therefore, pitchlove.com allows all standard members to browse and upload profiles for free. Paid membership of just $5/month* allows members to interact with one another.
Privacy and Security are also at the forefront of pitchlove.com: * Each photo and video is approved by a site moderator before appearing on the site * “Report” button on every profile enables members to immediately notify the site moderator of any issue (e.g. obscenity, inappropriate behavior) * “Block” button on every profile enables members to block other unwanted members * No profile or photo ratings * Secure payment through PayPal * Members are in complete control of what is shared with others through their video!
I’m truly excited about the potential of pitchlove.com! So join today. be creative, have fun, and good luck in your search. And remember…invite your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances and complete strangers to join pitchlove.com too!
*The first 100 members receive a free 1-year full-privilege membership upgrade!
PITCH YOUR LOVE CONTEST!: Be one of the first 100 members to submit a video profile (max. 60 seconds), and you could win $100! Upon the 100th video profile submittal, we will draw one member’s name from a bowl and award him or her $100. It’s that easy!
I CAN’T WAIT TO GET STARTED!
I’m sick of “other” sites that promise you a compatible match and what you get is someone who isn’t your type in any area.
Love the video concept, thanks for developing this site.
Pretty nice post. I just found your blog and wanted to say
that I have really liked reading your posts. In any case
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!