Singles and Dating

Once you’ve filled out a profile, matchmaker-dating sites will provide a list of matches—people they think you are compatible with. How do they decide who matches up with who?

Sometimes, the process is very simple. Each profile has a list of attributes or interests that members check off. The more matching attributes that two profiles have, the higher “match percentage” the site will assign to it.

Some sites allow users to specify how important each attribute is. Each matching attribute is assigned a different weight depending on how important it is to the user. For example, if you prefer blondes, but really have nothing against brunettes and redheads, then you can rank that attribute as very low. If it’s very important to you that your date has a college degree, you can rank that very high. Then the site will match you with a highly educated brunette sooner than a blonde who didn't finish high school.

Some sites use very complex personality surveys and mathematical algorithms to match partners.