It’s a concept that we’ve seen in almost every other facet of life: if you aren’t good enough at the sport, you don’t make the team. If you can’t pass a class, you don’t graduate. If you don’t do your job, you get fired.
And today, a new dating app is launching that applies this basic trend to online dating. The Grade will stamp a letter grade, from F to A+, on its users’ profiles, and deactivate the profiles of those who receive an F, meaning they’ve been found to be “unresponsive, inappropriate or undesirable,” according to the company’s press release.
In 2014, online dating tools are a dime a dozen, but admittedly, one that vows to get rid of the creeps garners a second glance. After all, the evidence of inappropriate conduct on Tinder is mounting. So much so, in fact, that an Instagram account dubbed @tindernightmares has popped up to memorialize some of the most cringeworthy exchanges on Tinder’s message boards. As more and more people have taken to online dating, the number of unwarranted sexual photos, inquiries and all-around lewd behavior has increased, because behind their phones, people seem to lose their filters.
But what if an app could get rid of those offenders? That’s what The Grade claims it can do, and here’s how.
The app uses a “sophisticated algorithm” based on objective criteria to sort out the low-quality daters from the high-quality ones. The Grade takes into account how many times a user is “liked” on the app, how many times the user responds to a message and gets a response back, as well as the content of the user’s messages. The Grade will check for spelling, use of slang, and inappropriate words. (We’re assuming that, since an algorithm is used, incorrect and inappropriate words are flagged by the system, but the press release doesn’t specify.) These three components combine to create the user’s grade, and other users can see how each score breaks down, as well as the overall grade.
If a user’s grade averages to an F, the user will be deactivated and blocked from using the app (according to the website, though, users can appeal their deactivation). If a user’s grade falls to a C or below, they’ll receive a warning as well as advice on how to boost their score.
The concept for The Grade was born out of a survey of 1,000 mobile daters (as well as from the common knowledge of the vicious online dating world, we have to assume). Here’s what they found, according to the press release:
The results of a survey of 1,000 mobile daters showed that 73% of women who use mobile dating apps said they have received a sexually suggestive photo, 77% have been asked to send an inappropriate photo, and 90% of women have received sexually suggestive messages. When asked if they would prefer a dating experience that expelled low-quality users, 91% of women responded with a “Yes.”
So the women spoke, and The Grade listened. Hallelujah. The app is a product from New York’s Snap Interactive, whose CEO, Clifford Lerner, said that he believes they’ve created “the high-quality mobile dating experience that users are demanding.”
If you’re accustomed to the Wild West of Tinder, The Grade might provide a little more transparency to your dating life. For instance, you’ll have an idea of whether or not a guy is going to ask if you’ll sit on his face before you connect with him. Because we all know those types of messages never warrant a response – giving the offender a big, fat F.
Image via The Grade
