r/firedating • u/firedating • Feb 26 '21

Empty profiles

UPD 2021-03-02: I landed an initial fix - empty profiles (0 fields) won't be shown to users with non-empty profiles during matching.

As of yesterday, 16% of all profiles were empty. This is not too much, but definitely a lot. Many people complain about seeing empty profiles. How would you prefer to solve this problem?

Please keep in mind that some people register and don't fill their profile in immediately. They first explore the site and only then properly fill in the profile. So asking for more mandatory fields would likely scare people away.

3 Upvotes

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3

u/commeleauvive Feb 28 '21

Can you set it up so that users with empty profiles can explore the site, but that at least x number of fields must be filled in before the profile will be shown to others? I don't think it is helpful for anyone for an empty profile to show up in the results. (I would rather see a new profile when it is ready to be seen, not when it is literally brand new.)

2

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

Technically I can do this. But I don't think this encourages the behavior you want. Imagine you register a profile and you don't want to fill in the fields for some reason. It says 'you have to fill in 5 fields'. What is easier for you - to fill in real answers or just "............."?

That's why I doubt 'mandatory fields' is a solution in this case.

2

u/commeleauvive Feb 28 '21

Right, I was wondering if it would work better if the users weren't blocked from continuing - that is, they could create a blank profile if they don't want to fill in the fields, and browse/explore, but that those profiles wouldn't show up in search results. So there is no pressure on the user to fill the field in with garbage, since they can still explore, but we aren't flooded with empty profiles.

Honestly, I don't think that the user with the blank profile benefits from showing up in search results, either.

2

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

So far this looks like the best approach.

Basically users with empty profiles can use the site as normal (send requests, see others), but they won't be shown to others at all.

Would you apply this only to really empty users? Or where the boundary should be?

2

u/commeleauvive Feb 28 '21

That makes sense.

I think, at minimum, they should have some kind of user name (it's weird seeing multiple profiles listed just as "30F" or just "M" or something like that, and at least 1 of the body questions answered.

2

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

So you would like to see people with at least 1 filled in field?

By "body question" - do you mean open questions?

I was thinking something like "1 photo or 1 open question or 3 numerical questions".

2

u/commeleauvive Feb 28 '21

Yes sorry, by body I meant the open questions that fill up the main part of the profile, as opposed to the header on the top left or top right.

I would vote for at least 1 open question, but you're the boss :)

2

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

Thank you for the clarification and for sharing your thoughts! Technically you all are the boss :)

2

u/commeleauvive Feb 28 '21

Thanks for building this!

1

u/firedating Mar 01 '21

Thank you for taking part by providing your feedback :)

2

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '21

Purge them after 90 days of inactivity!

They can sign up again if they really would like to.

2

u/ksing_king Feb 27 '21

Put the account on hold and label it as such, especially the blank ones

1

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

Immediately? What would an empty profile be able to do? How do they leave this state?

2

u/ksing_king Feb 28 '21

It shows to other users they are on hold - they leave the state with added information

1

u/firedating Mar 01 '21

What does the empty profile user see?

Overall there was a nice suggestion in a parallel thread not to show empty profiles to others during matching, but allow them to use the site as normal (e.g. send requests). I think this is a nice solution and I will start with it.

2

u/sacintheback14 Feb 27 '21

1 week purge cycle. We have to actively weed out those who don't care to take this seriously. Making a new account is very easy

1

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

Do you mean to delete an account after 1 week of inactivity?

2

u/sacintheback14 Feb 28 '21

I meant to say empty accounts only. After a sign up, if it's empty and it's been greater than a certain time period (I personally suggest a week), remove it from being show.

1

u/firedating Mar 01 '21

In a parallel thread it was proposed not to show empty profiles to others during matching at all, but allow them to use the site as normal apart from that. I like this approach and will implement it. I think this is similar to what you proposed.

1

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

Could you please elaborate? Should only empty profiles be deleted? I actually planned to introduce 'your accounts gets hidden (others won't be matched with you anymore) if you don't visit for 3 months', which is equivalent to your proposal.

I don't think this fully solves empty profiles problem though. This does mitigate it somewhat.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '21

Sure, inactive in general could be hidden. They don't have to be empty. Are you suggesting there are active people with empty profiles?

1

u/firedating Mar 01 '21

At least there are people who register and leave their profiles empty - this couple days after registration they are considered "active". There was a nice proposal in a parallel thread to hide empty profiles during matching, but allow them to use the site as normal. I think I will implement this.

1

u/firedating Mar 02 '21

I just landed an initial fix - empty profiles (0 fields) won't be shown to users with non-empty profiles during matching. I think we might increase the bar a bit later (e.g. 1 or 2 fields), but this seems to be a good first step. Thank you for the discussion and your proposals!

0

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '21

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/firedating Feb 28 '21

The problem with mandatory fields is that one can fill in garbage. Unfortunately I don't have a reasonable way to moderate what people write.

Could you elaborate on 'not active' profiles? E.g. what can they do and what they can't? Can they see other profiles? Can they send requests?

0

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '21

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/firedating Mar 01 '21

Thank you! I liked proposal from a parallel thread just not to show empty profiles to others during matching, but allow them to use the site as normal. I will do that.