Description

The dating site Once just started advertising on Instagram. I followed the link to www.getonce.com and thought I'd see what it was like. All the dating sites like Match, OkCupid, Bumble, Tinder, (the ones I am familiar with) try to entice the user into buying a subscription by letting you browse, but difficult or impossible to interact without getting a subscription. What is different about Once is that they use AI bots (I believe - or they pay people to impersonate) to seem like a real live person is messaging you (complete w/ professional photos of a younger-than-advertised member), complimenting you within 15 minutes of signing up for the free version. You can then message back once. They respond enthusiastically. You send them a longer text, then find out you need to upgrade to the "Premium" version to continue. You have no idea of knowing if it's a real person or not. I just think this is wrong -- it is more like the way romance scams from Nigeria work, and not suitable for a legitimate dating website.