BrightSpot Dating Description

Overview
In a nutshell, a user provides us with information about herself or himself, and about the person she or he wants to meet. We then match people based upon the information they provide. If two people who are matched express mutual interest in meeting, then a channel of communication is opened, and the two people may freely send messages to each other. The rest is up to them. It's as simple as that!

The Steps to Activating Match Searches
Once you have registered on our site, your next step is to fill out the "About Me" questionnaire. Your answers to this questionnaire are private: no answers will be seen by your matches without your explicit authorization. After you complete the "About Me" questionnaire, you can choose the information you would like to share with your matches by going to the "My Visible Profile" page. Then you proceed to the "About My Match" questionnaire. Your answers to this questionnaire are also kept private. After you have made your way through both the "About Me" and "About My Match" questionnaires and have established a visible profile of yourself for your matches to view, we will begin to search our database for your matches.

Match Searches
Unlike most online dating sites, in which each user searches on their own for their matches, we find the matches for our users through a comprehensive search of our user database. The only profiles a user will see on our site, and the only people who will see a user's profile, are those with whom there is mutually compatibility based on the answers to our "About Me" and "About My Match" questionnaires. ALL criteria in our survey must be met for both people in order for a match to be established. Thus, as a user, you do not have to worry about whether you are a suitable companion for any match you receive. If we find a match for you, then you meet ALL of that match's criteria in our survey, and they meet all of yours. So we think that every match we find for you is worthy of consideration.

"Match Factor"
The degree to which two people seem to be compatible, based on our questionnaires, is reflected in our "Match Factor" scores. Match Factor scores range between 0 (mutually at the edge of compatibility on all criteria) and 100 (mutually ideal on all criteria). Typical scores for your matches will probably be between 40 and 90.

"Yes," "No," and "Double" Matches
Although every match will meet all of the criteria specified in our questionnaires, we recognize that users are not necessarily going to be interested in every match they encounter on our site. To spare our users from concern about being contacted by matches in whom they are not interested, or concern about contacting matches who are not interested in them, we ask our users to specify, upon review of a match's profile, whether or not they are interested in meeting each match they receive. If a user specifies "No" to being interested in meeting a match, then with the possible exception of Special Messages (see below), no channel of communication is opened. A user that answers "No" will not know whether or not the match expressed interest in meeting him or her, or even whether his or her profile was looked at. On the other hand, if a user answers "Yes" to being interested in meeting a match, and the match also answers "Yes," then a "Double Match" is established, and a channel of communication is opened: the user and match may freely send messages to each other.

"Untagged" Matches and Assuring That New Matches Are Active on the Site
Before a users answers "Yes" or "No" to being interested in a match, a match has "Untagged" status. Untagged status for a match is equivalent to an answer of "No" to being interested in meeting that match. However, once a user has accumulated 5 matches with Untagged status, no more new matches will be found for that user. Thus we suggest that you answer "Yes" or "No" to being interested in your matches as soon as possible. It is through this limit of Untagged matches that we make sure our users log in and remain active -- any new match found for a user is likely to be someone who has logged onto our site relatively recently.

Special Messages
We decided that a user should have some limited capacity to contact any match. In particular, if a user is exceptionally interested in a match who is not a Double Match, then we would like the user at least to be able to introduce themselves. We give all users this ability via Special Messages. A Special Message is like a message to a Double Match EXCEPT that only one Special Message can be sent in any given week. A new Special Message privilege is granted to all users early Sunday morning of each week. If a user hopes to get a reply from a Special Message, then that user should have answered "Yes" to being interested in the recipient so that the recipient can freely reply without having to send a Special Message in return. Special Message privileges are NOT cumulative, i.e., a user cannot save up to send several Special Messages in a single week by refraining from use of the privilege over several weeks. One Special Message per week is all a user can ever send. We suggest that users use this privilege very prudently. In general a user should not expect a reply after a Special Message is sent, nor should a user take advantage of the Special Message privilege to send rude, demeaning, disrespectful, or otherwise inappropriate messages. Improper use of the Special Message privilege can, upon our discretion, result in the suspension of the use of our site.

User Control of Account Status and Match Searches
Users may, of course, choose to turn off match searches, or they may deactivate their profiles and thereby remove their profiles from view by their current matches. These actions can be taken by going to the "My Account Info." page.

Honesty on our site is definitely the best policy.
We cannot emphasize enough that you please be honest when you fill out our questionnaires, both about who you are and whom you would like to to meet. You benefit no one by being dishonest. In fact the person who would most lose out is you.

The Importance of Answering ALL Questions in Our "About Me" Questionnaire
We strongly encourage you to answer ALL questions in our "About Me" questionnaire. We know that some of the answers you provide are quite personal, which is why they are kept private. But please keep in mind that our goal is to find you compatible matches, and personal information about you is very important for reaching that goal. If you insist on skipping a question, you can do so by first clicking on one of the "Save" buttons at the bottom of the questionnaire page, and then by clicking on a "jump to" page link after the warning message appears. However, please keep in mind that our policy is to match users only with others who meet ALL of their specified criteria. Thus, if you skip a question, we will not match you with anyone who specifies any requirement for that characteristic for a match to be acceptable. For example, if you choose to skip the question that asks about your annual income, we will match you only with people who specify "Any" for the acceptable income level of their matches.

Usefulness in Answering All Questions in Our "About My Match" Questionnaire
If you don't answer a question in the "About My Match" questionnaire, then for an "Acceptable Match" the outcome is the same as answering "Any" wherever that choice is an option, and for an "Ideal Match" the choice is the same as the choice for an "Acceptable Match." Where a choice of "Any" is not an option, the effect of not answering a question varies but in general will result in a lower Match Factor score. You will get the most suitable matches if you answer all questions.

Additional Information About Our Site
If you have further questions, we suggest that you consult our FAQ page and our page of site definitions. If you still have questions, feel free to contact us.

BrightSpot Dating

Description of How Our Site Works