Fake Harvard Dating Site Prank Turns Into Actual Algorithm

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — What started as an intercollegiate prank may very well have turned into something legitimate. Last month, hundreds of Harvard students signed up for a dating site called the "Harvard Marriage Pact," looking for love. The only problem was that the site was completely fake.

Liam Kronmen, a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told WBZ's Matt Shearer that he wanted to see how many Harvard students would waste their time filling out a lengthy and tedious questionnaire. Turns out, a lot of students were willing to find love on the phony site.

"We had no algorithm, we just had a form that people filled out, that was all," said Kronmen, "it got out of control pretty quickly."

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The joke may have kept going, but Kronmen received a cease-and-desist letter from another site called "Marriage Pact." According to the Harvard Crimson, students believed they were scammed of their personal information when the Harvard Marriage Site disappeared from the Internet.

But Kronmen decided to go legitimate with his dating site ideas, and crafted an actual algorithm for a site called "ExExEx." The new site would match ex-partners to the ex-partners of their ex-partners, thus the name "ExExEx."

Kronmen himself said he was looking for love, he said "I wouldn't mind if something worked out."

WBZ's Matt Shearer (@MattWBZ) reports.


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