Show HN: Too busy for online dating? Try Wednesday Night

These dating/find-a-friend services that require Facebook show up often on HN, and like clockwork are berated because they are Facebook-only (and the privacy issues that go along with it).<p>Yet people keep making them. Am I correct to deduce they are popular and there is market for them, and that it's only HN that hates them?

I'm not sure how I feel about this. They aren't matching you up with people they've vetted or know -- they're just finding you a date from other online dating services. And then charging you $75 (which could end up being $150 for them if they get both people via their site).<p>Semi-related, but Tim Ferriss has an interesting story about how he "outsourced his love life": <a href="http://blog.timferriss.com/1/post/2009/07/how-to-tim-ferriss-your-love-life.html" rel="nofollow">http://blog.timferriss.com/1/post/2009/07/how-to-tim-ferriss...</a>

This might be a weird comment, but the service seems very alcohol oriented - meeting at a bar, covering drinks. What about people who don't drink?

So the 75 bucks is to cover the actual match making? Or are you sending people to some really fancy bars. How's that even work? I'm in Canada, You have deals with franchises here?<p>Ah no, that's a US zip code you're asking for. I'm very familiar with the US zip code, you see, as most US based web services present themselves as a global service rather than a US based one, and the zip code is often the only sign that they arn't catering to my nation.

We at Truffle are building something similar but with linkedIn authentication - catering to working professionals.<p>We tried doing work email verification but users revolted against that and we have to revert back to linkedIn. I guess people on HN are right when they say that facebook logging is instant turn off but for some people entering email address and password is even bigger.<p>Also yah I like your service, though you are my competitor but 75$ is a lot. Try out making it a coffee, first date at a bar is a big sell.<p>By the way, if anyone of you here on HN are from Seattle and looking to grab a coffee with someone interesting, try out www.jointruffle.com :)

Wednesday Night:<p>I'd be tempted to sign up with Facebook and receive a reply on exactly what kind of person you'd try to connect me to, given what you glean from FB.<p>If you got it right, I'd be a step closer to giving you money (if you operated near me). If you got it wrong, and I freely admit that I expect you will, I'd keep my money.<p>Either way, I am able to determine the quality of your service. I regularly spend $75 in a bar and have no trouble meeting people, despite how busy I am. You don't provide a compelling reason to give that $75 to you instead of my friendly local bartenders.<p>Meeting people isn't the problem. Meeting the right person, with whom I'd be interested in more than sharing a few drinks and conversation, is <i>the</i> problem. My closest friends of more than a decade, who know me exceedingly better than FB, have routinely tried to connect me with someone or other. Not one has been the right fit.<p>Hell, just cos I'm feeling generous, I'd even give you a hint and say one of your staffers has the look. But that wears off in about 2.3 minutes.<p>DoubleHell, just cos I'm feeling that much more generous, let me suggest (if you haven't already thought of it) that you mesh HN activity with FB activity for an even better understanding.<p>Sadly, to my knowledge, we haven't yet figured out a way to determine likelihood of <i>chemistry</i> between superficially compatible people. Perhaps I'm just a naysayer, but until we can figure that out, online dating just isn't working. Apparently almost 75% of US single people have tried online dating. Only 20% have found committed relationships (assuming that's everyone's goal, which it isn't).[1]<p>We need a chemistry detector, not a compatibility detector (machine or human).<p>[1]: quick search leads me to stats from 2012 at <a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/online-dating-statistics/" rel="nofollow">http://www.statisticbrain.com/online-dating-statistics/</a>

What happens when you can't set up a match?<p>What happens if someone is stood up?<p>What happens if you have a skewed ratio of men to women?

It is interesting that there's a human in the loop. It's sort of a Mechanical Turk approach to web dating, and notable because it's the opposite of sites like E-Harmony that trump the superiority of their algorithm.

Things that bug me: "setup" is the noun; "set up" is the verbal phrase. When I see 'setup" used like that, it drives me nuts.

If you're too busy for online dating, aren't you too busy for dating in general? Seems like a vanishingly small market - people willing to pay $75 for a date, but unwilling to take the time to look on match.com. But I'm usually wrong about this sort of thing, so carry on!

Can I get set up with Dan the matchmaker? He got that Clark Kent thing going on.

Have you seen this website? <a href="http://www.jointruffle.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.jointruffle.com</a><p>Seems doing similar things but targeting different group of people.

So it's Grouper, but for 2 people instead of 6, and unblinded?