Important note for OKCupid users...

[usernamenumber]

This has probably been there for a while, but it's the first I've heard about it.

1) Log into okcupid.com.
2) Click Settings in the upper-right.
3) Click Profile Options on the left.

Note the following option:

Make my profile viewable only by other members who are signed in, and do not use my profile in advertisements.

At least for me, this option is UNCHECKED by default, meaning you have to opt OUT of this "feature".

Not cool, okcupid match.com, Not cool.

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I hear they'll reveal your quiz answers too, which were always touted as "OMG PRIVATE" in the beginning...

[turtletoturtle]

Eep. Thanks for the heads up.

[dot_fennel]

Until your post, I would have said that both settings were the default on OKCupid going way back-- I'm doubting myself now, since you seem sure, but I'm curious which half of that surprised you.

(I actually think the first half is a good default; a dating site does need good privacy controls, but restricting views to members of a free website does nothing for privacy. That's just driving "stickiness" or "conversion" or whatever the business buzzword for that is.)

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

I take your point about the privacy thing, though it could do *something* to keep banned users from stalking people on OKC or from profiles turning up in random web searches, though of course both of those are barriers that can be overcome.

My main complaint was with the opt-out "we can use your profile in ads" thing, which I'd at least never noticed before, and which didn't seem like what I perceived to be OKC's style before the acquisition.

[archangelwells.livejournal.com]

That second part had never been part of it, this is true. Also, mine is set to on, I don't think I changed it when match bought okc, but it had ALWAYS been set to on. So maybe they just maintained that across the transfer?

@meta: that's totally optional by user. And at least when it started, the default was private, and all the ones you answered before the changeover were automatically set to private. I remember going through one by one to switch them all to public, until I found the "convert all to public" button. I know people who didn't bother to make any public.

[swashbucklr]

Yeah, the option to keep yourself visible only to OKC members has been there for a long time, but the advertising thing seems new.

[dot_fennel]

The ban/stalking issue is a good point; I hadn't thought of that. And I have no problem with "Ask search engines not to index me"; that's a good basic privacy feature.

OKC has always had a very-- I think they used this exact phrase-- "flexible Terms of Service" that let them do things like games where you're shown two users' photos and guess which of them is a virgin (without identifying information and without telling you whether you're right in a given case). So whether using people's profile info in ads is OKC's style seems to me very much like it depends on the particular ads.

I agree that's a nasty thing to add in an opt-out way, though. I mean, a company's responsibility to their users runs deeper than just not doing things *I* think are out of character.

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads-up.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly certain that this has always been the default.

I remember changing that setting years ago, shortly after I joined OK cupid.