username2 comments on Look for Lone Correct Contrarians - Less Wrong

20 Post author: Gram_Stone 13 March 2016 04:11PM

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Comment author: username2 14 March 2016 08:49:53PM 1 point [-]

On OkCupid it would be weird if you said that your primary purpose of registering was to find people whom you could recommend books.

Comment author: Gram_Stone 14 March 2016 11:28:38PM *  0 points [-]

So everyone's clear, this service Alikewise does actually have a link that just says "recommend a book to this person." It would probably be a good place to do a one-shot ad hoc analysis of members' book preferences and recommend the right books to the people you consider most likely to appreciate it, and maybe return every year or so or more if userbase growth spikes; but OkCupid and other non-dating sites almost certainly have more relevant data, if only you had a socially acceptable mechanism of suggesting books and doing nothing else bad, unlike fooling people into thinking you're looking for a mate or sending unsolicited messages on social media platforms. Not elegant solutions. As is you could only use the other data to possibly refine your estimates of Alikewise's users' preferences, and probably not much else.