KELOWNA, B.C. (CUP) — If you have already read about BeautifulPeople.com, what you’ve heard probably isn’t very positive.
While a relatively new networking and dating website, BeautifulPeople.com stands out from the hoards of other social sites by their controversial method of filtering applicants. The website markets itself as social networking site filled strictly with beautiful people – no more filtering through "ugly" profiles on websites to find a good match for yourself.
In order to keep BeautifulPeople.com filled only with ‘beautiful’ people, they have a rather brutal screening process. BeautifulPeople.com utilizes its community to define what beauty actually is. In order to become a member, all applicants submit their full name, personal information and a profile picture online. Their picture is posted instantly on the site and judged over a 48-hour period by members of the opposite sex. Male members, for example, will vote on potential new female members as to whether or not they are ‘beautiful’ enough to join on a scale of 1 to 4.
The shallowness of society has been taken to a whole new level.
This screening process is flawed in so many obvious ways. Anyone skilled with Photoshop has a substantially higher chance at getting in. You could submit a picture of someone else entirely. If you want to be taken seriously, you also have to submit a specific type of picture – not just a picture of you, of course, but your good side. Your sexy side. The side where women wear a tonne of makeup and emphasize their cleavage. I don’t think any woman should have to do this to gain the advantage against other women just to join an online society.
I tried making a profile (strictly for research purposes of course) and the entire site was riddled in coding errors and annoying broken links at every third click. Members need to pay for the service upon acceptance into the society, which is almost a given, but is still a big turn off. But it gets worse. Much worse.
This month, beautifulpeople.com relieved around 5,000 users of their memberships. The users had apparently gained too much weight over the holidays and were not deemed ‘beautiful’ enough to be kept on the servers. According to the BBC, BeautifulPeople.com co-founder Robert Hintze said that “As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld.”
“Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”
The stunt resulted in thousands of bruised egos and major media attention, raising the number of visits to their site dramatically. It is totally plausible to speculate that they might have done it for the attention. I must have missed the memo that said beautiful people who have gained a few pounds are instantly ugly. Shame on you, BeautifulPeople.com. Shame.
// Amber Choo
The Phoenix
|
