I’m proud to say that, after 3+ months of living here in San Fran, I’ve successfully convinced every single girl I know to start using OkCupid. My plan? The more girls are the site, the more boys will come, which will generally increase the availability pool. As I’ve mentioned before, I was surprised that a city like San Francisco, which is so open-minded, wouldn’t already be a happening spot on the dating site that encourages free love and other such happiness. Anyways, way to go me, I guess.

The other thing that’s been on my mind is OkCupid’s mysterious “algorithm,” which matches people up using a percentage system. I might be, for example, 70% compatible, 75% friend, and 5% enemy with any given person — which, in theory, tells me how well we’d get along. When I interviewed Sam Yagan about the site, he refused to reveal the algorithm’s secrets. After some not-too-close examination though, it seems pretty simple. In order to complete your profile, you answer questions (What’s more important, sex or love? Would you date a couple?), then you decide how your ideal match would answer them. Your percentage compatibility with other people gets determined by how they match up to those answers. Boring.

I suppose that leaves us with the question: do online daters — whether they’re from New York or San Francisco — really know what they want in a match? You’d like to think so, but I’d also love if the system turned up some awesome date I would have never picked myself.