Girls Gotta Eat - Should You Stop Swiping? feat. Hinge Founder Justin McLeod

Episode Date: August 6, 2018

We are so excited we got to sit down with Justin McLeod, the founder of Hinge, and bombard him with all our dating app questions -- how is Hinge different, what does the future of dating hold, what makes a good profile, what pics should be canceled, how should you open a convo, and so much more. Justin also shares his rom-com-worthy love story, and what Hinge is doing to help us single folk find love stories of our own (thank God). And we wrap up with listeners submissions of the good, the bad, and the ugliest dating app opening lines. Enjoy! Follow Girls Gotta Eat on Instagram at @GirlsGottaEatPodcast. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you leaving an opening for someone to be able to respond to this? If it's like what makes me happy, like sunshine and travel, like, how do you expect people to respond? Like, me too. Welcome back to another episode of Girls Got to Eat Podcast. We're here. Yes, we are. And we want to thank you guys for all you've done for us. The response last week to reviews and subscribers was huge.

Because you've, like, forced people. Yeah, it did. You throw out a bunch of numbers. Keep letting me shame you into leaving us a rating on iTunes. We just want to keep moving up those charts. It takes one second. Just click the button. It means a lot to us.

Also, keep putting us in your stories, tag us. Tell your friends. Tell everybody you work with. And keep sending us some really funny text messages you guys have. We'll keep putting it in our stories as well. Yes, thank you, Raina, for shame and all of our listeners into writing reviews for us. You are welcome. We have loved reading them.

As always, we are coming to you from Mouth Media, powered by Senheiser. Okay, so you have a story that you have been holding back from me for a month. Ugh. Yes. So you guys have already seen the description of this podcast. We have the founder of Hinge in studio today. We are so excited. But we were supposed to do this episode a month ago, so I had this story was perfectly time.

But now it's a little bit old, but I'm still going to tell it because I really got to share it. I'm excited that you hold on to this long. And I'm proud of you. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't so long. Yeah, whatever. It's like a month ago. Okay. So I... Like we don't text 95,000 times a day. You knew I went in this date, though. I love hinge. It's really the only dating up that I'm really using now. So I went on... This is only my second hinge date, though. Because I'm still a little bit newer to it. So when on this date, you know, I was so excited about this guy. And we went on a date. And at this point, I'd only been on one other hinge date. And we talked about this guy as well. Remember, I went out with him. I said he was really into me. How could I forget?

My first hinge date ever was with this really good guy with like a great nine-hour date, had a really good time. And I don't know. I just, I feel bad, but I just wasn't really feeling it. And I never went out with him again. I kind of blew him off a little bit.

So I felt kind of bad. And so now I'm out on my second hinge date and was super into the sky. We'd been chatting. We've been texting and met up pretty casually. We met up this really cool dive bar in Williamsburg. Walk in, immediately attracted to this guy. I was like, this is what it's about. This is hard to find. You know, you walk in, you're like, I'm immediately viving with this person. We stayed there. We're having some drinks. We're really

getting along with each other. I was really feeling it. And then, who do I see walk in? But first, hinge date guy. What? What? I'm speechless. I've been on two hinge dates. Why are they in the same bar? You know the, the population of New York City fluctuates to about 20 million people a day. And you ran into this guy. Raina, I was like, this is not happening. How, what are the chances? And I'm telling you that I, that guy was so great, so sweet. And I just totally blew him off.

And I'm like, oh, my God. So are you already on the date when you see him or do you walk in and they're both there? No, no, no. I've been out. We probably had two, three drinks at this time. We're in the middle of this day, really feeling each other. And this other guy walks in that I blew off, what, a week, two weeks prior. And here's the thing.

That's super awkward. ex-boyfriend walked in, that's different. I'd be like, hey, this is a little awkward, but here, what if that guy would have walked up? And then I'm like, hi, this, hey, you, guy I blew off. Here's this other guy I'm out with now that I chose to date over you. Like, so, I was like, I can't have a run in. I can't.

So we, so we walk. I'm like, I'm like, I'm not going to say anything. I don't want to be dramatic. You know, I just met this guy. So I'm trying to keep my cool. And he, at one point, it kind of got loud inside. He was like, you want to head out to the patio. So I'm kind of scanning the room.

Like I didn't see where the first guy went. I'm like, I just don't want to run into him. I'm like really kind of distracted. I'm like, yeah, yeah, let's go out to the patio. Cool. And I'm like, maybe he's left. I just didn't see him. He's easy to spot.

Didn't see him. We walk out. We're walking out. Dude that I'm really feeling as like his hand. I'm lower back kind of pushing me. He's like, let's go sit at the bar outside. This like bar at this place. And I'm like, cool, cool.

And we're literally, what, five steps away from where we're about to perch on these bar seats and I see the first guy. And I take such. a like hard 45 degree like ROTC turn like totally just like turn B-lined to this picnic table in the corner by the trash can. And he's like, great seat. Now you're trash can girl. He was like, why did that happen?

Like what just happened? And I was like, oh, this is so awkward. But like this guy went out with and I kind of blew off his here and I'm sorry and it's weird and he's right there and now I feel weird. And he's like, I got you and pulls out like a weed pen. And I'm like, marry me. He was like, you need a little bit of this. I'm like, I love you.

Is it too soon to say, I love you? Is that weird? So I took a hit. Felt a little better. Eventually, first guy leaves. I can't believe you stayed because you are also not a very hard person to miss. Right. You're very tall.

You've long hair. You're like an attractive tall female. There's just, I just feel like he had to have seen me. But there was, there's no way to finesse that meeting. Like, that's an awkward fucking thing. I just, of all the people. in the same in a dive bar in Brooklyn. Because at least with an ex, you can actually be open and honest with a person here.

You're like, you know, my ex just walked in. I don't really want to stay here. But like, that's super normal. We weren't going to leave. We were in the middle of a great date. Again, like, it just, the run-in would have been so awkward. So I just had to kind of be alert at all times. And finally, I realized that he had left.

And it is literally my worst nightmare to run into somebody that I ghosted. Just cannot leave the situation. On a day with the new guy. So those from my first two hinge dates. That is an, I can't believe you held on to that. That is awesome. And he never, like, texted you or said like, hey, what's up? No.

First guy, you mean? Yeah, first guy. He liked me a lot. No. The guy who did is. Maybe he didn't see me. I don't know. And I feel like I had a great, that was a great date that I was on.

That didn't work out. I feel like, I feel like people, you know, but our listeners probably are like, well, what happened? So I feel like I need to say. I, man, you guys, that was my favorite date from an app I've ever been on. It was a great date to sit there with some. with somebody that you're wildly attracted to when you're really getting along and you're laughing. And he, you know, he walked me to the train and we kissed on the street, which I love

a street makeout. And text me the next morning. First thing, we talked during the day. We tried to get up all weekend and work out. He had friends in town, whatever. And then it just kind of, it felt like it fizzled. And I'll be honest, like, we, I did know that he was into like the open relationship thing that came up on our date.

And I kind of brushed it off. But the more I thought about it, I was like, that's not something that I, that I want. We wouldn't, we want to address it eventually in this podcast. the open relationship thing is very fascinating. I'm not judging at all. But I was like, you know, I actually, as much as I had a great day with this guy and really was attracted to him and liked him, it's probably just not the guy for me. It didn't work out. I love

that you will put yourself in these situations. You're confident enough to be like, I match this guy, I'm going to go on a date, I'm going to check it out. The reality is that love is very rare. You're not going to vibe with every person, and they're not going to vibe with you. Like, you liked this guy, and then he did some weird things. I love that you put yourself out there, but we have

a guest in the studio with us today. I'm really excited. I've wanted to do an episode about online dating for a really long time since day one, actually. Yes, and we just casually got the founder of like our favorite app in studio. So we want to welcome to the studio, the founder of one of the biggest dating apps in United States, and we think one of the best, Justin McLeod. Thanks for having me. Thanks for being here.

We are really excited. We have everybody started off by introducing themselves. How old are you? Where are you from? We already know what you do. Yeah. So I'm 30. What year is it?

28. I'm 34 years old. I was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Oh, wow. Shout out to Louisville, Kentucky. Yeah. Do you, do you, what do you, what's your association with? Do I know a lot of? You're Ray is like a club DJ. I always joke. She's like, where my Louisville people have. Like, what do you talk? Shout out to Louisville.

Where my Scorpio's at? So crazy, right. Anyway, shout out to Louisville. This is just like the mock rain a variety hour. I went to college in Bloomington, Indiana. I have a lot of friends. And so I've been there several times. I've been to a llama farm there.

Oh, my gosh. Okay, story for another time. We don't want to get out track, but I love llamas. But anyway. The fuck. There's probably a lot of llamas on Hinge, probably, right? They're so hot right now. Are they so hot right now?

Like in pictures, no? Do you see a lot of llamas? People go to Machu Picchu, I guess, and take a picture with a... That's a llama, right? I hope you quantified how many females took the photo in Florence. on the little veranda in the park. Machu Picchu photos. Photos are huge.

The most basic photos of tigers? Photos of tigers? Tigers are a little out of fashion. And fish. Can we just what about fish picks altogether? Because you have to like sedate the tigers. I don't like it. Animal cruelty.

Elephants in Thailand. A lot of elephants in Thailand. No it. Now that there was. I was just in Thailand. We're already like really too excited getting into. Let's back up. Let's back.

I ask everybody if they are. single dating. Of course I need to know if the founder of Pan is single dating. I'm married. I see the ring on your finger. Yes, I'm married. We're doing it for the show, guys.

We're doing it for you. We know he's married. I met Kate in 2003. So well before dating apps or Facebook or iPhones. In the wild. In the wild. In college.

Where'd you go to college? Colgate. Shout out to Colgate. Shout out to Colgate. What about? They're mascot. I know it. And so, yeah, we met in 2003.

It was her first day of school. It was like my first day of seven year. First of school. That just sounds fair. Yeah. And so anyway, we were on and off the call. It's a long story. But we had an eight-year break during which I started hinge in the middle of that break,

trying to find someone as great as Kate. And it didn't work out in the end. But it did lead me back to Kate in the end. So she was the one that got away. She was the one that got away. And she'd moved off, she'd moved to Switzerland and was about to get married to someone else. And I flew over last second and asked her to come back. And ruined that guy's life?

Well, he's actually happily married now and has a child. You Dustin Hoffman, her? That's so crazy. Oh my gosh. That is, hold on. I know. We have a lot of questions. We're going to, this is, we could spend the whole episode talking about this crazy romantic story.

Was it her wedding weekend? No, it was like a month before. Okay. He busted in the doors of the chair. He did a sure responsible thing. He waited four weeks out of time. Yeah. Okay. So, absolute rom-com life. So your life is amazing.

You're 34. You created this amazing dating app. You're with the love of your life who you saved from this horrible marriage. Where about Kate's up? Talk to me about founding hinge. When did you, when did you, how did you get this idea? Well, I mean, it is tied to that story. So it happened in.

So I was just like a total train wreck in college. Okay. Weren't we all? Yeah, most of us. But I mean, I was like really a train wreck. And getting in lots of trouble and like getting kicked out of school. And like, so we sort of went our separate ways because, you know, she had to like save herself. And so I graduated college.

I'm like, I had to put my life together. And I sort of did. And I got a job in consulting for a little while. and then I ended up at business school up at Harvard. And that's when I was like, okay. You sound like such a train wreck. Well, I really was. You're really hitting the crack pipe hard at Colgate?

Well, I was such a mess. But then Harvard, I don't know. It's weird. It was a yeah. All right. So your dad made a huge endowment to Harvard. No, never. Sorry, we have to roast everybody.

I'm next. I had a decent GPA. I just would disqualarily. I was constantly in trouble. You're a disruptor. You're an ally. That's right. Throwing snowballs through RAs windows and setting off fire alarms with joints and just I just got, but I was, it just was constant.

I was in a lot of trouble. Anyway, it doesn't matter. All right. Well, I love this message that, like, you can be a total fuck up and turn it around. A lot of times the smartest people do stuff because they're bored, you know, and you're all. I did feel pretty bored. Right. Yeah.

Anyway, well, I found things to do. Anyway, I, uh. Like lighting dormitories on fire. Like letting dormitories on fire. Casual arson. Whatever. Anyway, I... Hobbies include arson.

I'm at business school and I'm like supposed to go start a job at McKenzie, like, consulting firm. And I'm like, okay, I have my life together now. I can reach back out to Kate. And she'd gone off and lived in Florence for a little while to go to cooking school. And she went back and worked at Goldman as a trader and then met someone and moved off with him. She sounded like a trainer, too. Yeah.

Jeez, what a bunch of losers. I know, right? So, and I reached out to her and she sort of, in so many words, told me to shove it and it was too late. And I was really sad and depressed about that and sat in my room and cried for a week. And then Harvard was about to throw this last chance dance party. And so I helped make sure that that happened and built this little app on Facebook that would allow people to list their crushes. And if two people liked each other.

Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. And that just got the wheels turning. And then that... You programmed to this? Sorry to interrupt you. Are you a programmer also?

So I grew up coding a lot. And then I had this idea. And so a friend of mine who also worked at... worked at Google and was with the business school, we sort of worked together on this. Okay. And so a bunch of people used it for the last stand stance. It was kind of fun, but it just got the wheels turning about this idea. Of the mutual friend thing, right?

Of the mutual friend thing, which was that, like, there's all these people out there. We're like friends of friends. You don't really get to meet them. At the time, it was just, I mean, there was no tender. This was 2011. Okay. So there was no tender. It was just, okay, cupid, mesh.com.

People didn't really use dating sites. It just got the wheels turning and it started to evolve. And this idea of this Friends of Friends Dating app that would connect to Facebook was born. And the idea was like if you could create a one-click sign-on process in order to sign on to a dating website, people would do it because it would just be so simple. It would be like, why wouldn't you do it? The problem with the other ones, yeah, is that you paid a lot of money or you had to fill out like 10,000 questions and all that. You would only do that if you sort of felt like desperate.

Right. And Facebook already has your pictures. Yeah, exactly. So it's just like, this is really easy. We'll use your Facebook profile and we'll connect you to people who are friends of friends. You have to do almost no work. And it's so simple. And before like Tinder even came out, you had this idea. Yes. So this is 2011. So when did it officially launch? Like 2013-14. When did Hinge officially launch or when in Tinder? So Hinge officially launched. Actually, we started to launch May 2012. Oh, wow.

And then we sort of evolved it and launched it, launched like sort of the Friends of Friends, guess or no, binary version on in February 2013, which was about like four months after Tinder launched. Well, I was on it in 2014. And I think it's so fascinating because I've watched it evolve. So I got on it, met somebody, got off all of them, had a relationship for a couple years, moved back to New York, got back on it, didn't like it. just we talked about this.

There was some, that you weren't being matched for, whatever. Yeah. It wasn't crazy about it. It was like, oh, God, but now it's like, now. We had a rough patch for a little bit.

Right. And I got back on it through the rough patch. Now it's just like, God, it's so good. It's like the science behind it and psychology, but it's moved away from the friends of friends, right? Yeah, we have. I mean, it's still a piece of the, of what we do, but we're, our machine learning and the stuff that we've got now

that can really help, like, learn your taste. any amount of information that we collect from people, we can really help you find someone. A lot of the people that we show you are still friends of friends, but we don't rely on that as a gut filter. Especially in a huge city, like New York City. Like, we just want to, there's so many people. But I really want you to talk about why it's Hinge is set up like it is and why it's not the swipe that you get on Bumble and Tinder and all those things, because I think that's,

that's why I love it. And to give people a background on Hinge, it is different than an average swiping. app. It's different than an app where you build a profile. It is so different than any other app, which is why I think people like it. So if you want to talk about how it is different and why you make those decisions, right. So, so 2015, 2016, we were just another swiping app, but we were friends of friends was the idea. And what we realized with the swiping mechanism is that it just really flattened people. People were so shallow. Yeah, it makes you, yeah, it makes you, You're swiping.

The first time I started swiping, I was like, who am I? I'm a monster. You don't know much about other people, obviously, because it's just like a very limited profile, obviously. And the other thing that is that people make decisions so easily and so quickly, right? You just like swipe left or right. We found that guys would swipe right on like 70% of profiles, right? So it's like you're not even learned.

Like, you have no idea what this person's taste is because no one's being selected. And even women swipe right on like 30 to 40% of people. So, like, it was like you've got, you just rack up all these matches. You have no sense of really who's actually interested in you, who's not. A lot of conversations die. And there's just like a whole lot of noise and very little signal for helping you figure out who you like. And also that interface just attracted a whole group of people who were interested in all kinds of things. I mean, these sites, I think build themselves as very open-ended.

Like, oh, it could be for fun or it could be for hookups or it could be for anything. and that's very, I think that kind of interface where it's just treated like a game really does attract a lot of people who are like, a lot of people weren't even looking to meet up. They're just on there just to play a game and get a vanity. And for people that don't have like a backup, like a startup or a tech background, like you have all those statistics, right?

Like you know exactly how much time somebody spends on the app, how many times they're swiping. You said, what, 70% of guys? Yeah, guys were swiping right on Hinge on the old version. Like 70% of the profiles were swiped. Right. So you have like all this data and you're like, okay, we need to change this. Yeah, that's right. Because it just wasn't working for our, it wasn't working for our users. For the users. You're just like another swiping app. And I got in this because of my personal story and because I want to do something good with the world to like actually help people connect. And it just felt like the interface was not helping people connect.

So I asked the team basically to just like let's start over. Let's like tear down this interface. I don't know what it's going to look like. but we should rebuild this to try to solve the problem that we're trying to solve. It just help people find real relationships. And it took us a while. And it was an interesting and sort of crazy time for Hinge because we really had to figure out. Like, what is? I sort of brought a problem to the team, and I didn't have the solution as a leader. I was like, I think that there's an answer out there.

I have a few ideas, but I really don't know what this is going to look like. And I really don't know that there even is a solution to this, but let's try. Right. And so it took, you know, basically most of 2016 we spent trying to develop what this new interface would look like. And then it came out at the beginning, or at the end of 2016. And at this point, are you getting like lists, are you getting like user emails with suggestions? Like, you wake up one day and you're like, questions, that's what we'll do. Like, how did you come up with this?

We, well, beginning of 2017, that's when I saw it was like a timeline, which was so cool to me. But the question thing is just like, it's so brilliant. Yeah. And we optimize those over time. If you guys don't really know if you're not on Hinge, like, I don't know, just get on it and see for yourself. But they give you a bunch of questions. Yeah, the two things that are different is one that we got rid of the swiping and we have liking content. So you post pictures with captions and videos.

Liking content? That's like our whole career. And you add answers to some questions, just three questions. And they're a little short, you know, basically like tweet length answers to these questions. But it really gives you a sense of someone's personality. Those questions have been heavily optimized. And if you like someone, you actually engage with something of theirs. You can choose a picture.

You can choose one of those questions. And you can like it. And you can even optionally add a comment. Right. And then we let the person know that you like their thing, which also eliminates the whole swiping, like swipe just to see if the person likes you back and worry about it later. We just tell you like, listen, this person already liked you. Don't like them just to see if they like you back.

We're telling you and decide if you actually like this person. back. When you see what they like about you. Yeah. It's like for, you see if they're funny. You see if they like, I mean, I don't rarely guys like my pictures. It's like something funny that I said. Well, because you've optimized the app, I think, to be like, it's not like everybody

writes this profile that is the same profile. It's like, you know, you actually optimize the app so that the questions really give you a window into somebody. So some of the ones I really, I really like are like, you know, who would your last meal be with or what was the most spontaneous thing you ever did? And people can really answer questions to give you a window into their soul and be funny. And you can see people. And lead to, you can tell something's funny or not, like done and done. Like you're funny or you're not. You can tell. So much of it is about, I think, the things that we can't quite describe what we're looking for

in someone, but those things are communicated by the way that people answer these questions. And it's not just a binary, like a bunch of check marks. Like they have to be this and this and this. It's like you get a sense of them when you see them in Purdison. You get a sense of the, you get a sense them when you have banter with them and you start to get a sense of whether you two will click and whether you two will five. And so that's what we're trying to do. And ultimately, the barometer that we use to decide whether these questions are good or not is do they lead to conversations. And we sort of have a, we track this like two by two matrix of all the questions and it's, what's the adoption rate and what's the full conversation rate? Meaning like, are people willing

to answer this question? So like there's some questions out there that people are not really willing to answer, but if they did, then they would lead to a lot of conversations. There's other ones that, you know, are the opposite. The people are really willing to answer, but they don't lead to, like, where to find me at the party. That's so interesting. Do you want to hear my answer to that? Yeah, give it to me.

I updated it last night. I just, okay, so background. We actually met with Justin like a couple weeks ago, and he told us this funny statistic about one of these questions. Right, but I'll, I updated my hinge last night because I was like, I just wanted to be super on point when Justin comes in. just in case it comes up. It's short, but like it says where to find me at the party,

and mine says by the AC unit. Like, I love air conditioning. I'm always hot. Nobody has ever loved air conditioning. Find me a party shirt up in front of the window unit. But you want to some, okay, so what is the number one answer to this question? It is, I think the number one answer is with the dog. Which is so basic, but like I still appreciate it.

People all think they're being so original, though, because in everybody's mind, they're like, everybody's going to say, like, taking, shots and I'm going to be in the corner with the dog. Yeah. Everyone's with the dog. Or on the dance floor. I see that a lot. Yeah,

the dance floor is another popular one. But I'll say, I will say that like it's super quote unquote basic to stay on the dance floor, but I love to dance. I like a guy that dances. So if I see that, I'm like, we're good.

Yeah. You know, so. And it starts conversation. So a guy can be like, what kind of music to you like listening to? Things like that. Show me your moves. Guys have been like when I have a dance off.

It's like, yeah. I just like, yeah, not me. Not me. I don't. I'm not good at dancing. I'm Jewish.

I'm sure there's good Jewish dancers out there. Don't get mad at me because I made a Jewish show. I'm Jewish. I can do it. What is this? I'm good at other things. Like, giving blow jobs. I don't need to be good at dancing.

There she is. Okay. We were getting too serious. Right. I'm like so excited to like here. I love dating. They're so interesting. So what are other,

what are your other top questions? Like, what's the number one was answered question? That's a good. Yeah, do you know? Yeah. Yeah, so the number one that people are willing to answer is what makes me happy, but it's not very good at leading to full conversations we've learned. I would never choose that one.

Yeah, well. So what are people writing for answers? It's, well, it usually ends up being pretty basic kind of things, like sunshine, friends, travel. Oh my God, breakfast. Swipe left. Yeah. So we, I think we recently actually, we recently killed that one, precisely because it's

actually so bad because so many people will choose. it. It's actually one of the worst prompts that we can put in there because some people will choose it. Right. And then it doesn't lead to full conversations. Also, sorry to offend you. Yeah. People are right, though. And to me, that's like the kind of thing you write on like a profile dating site is like, things that make me happy. You're all this dumb shit. And so at the other end of the spectrum, you have something like, so one that people don't choose very often,

but performs really, really well in terms of getting people to converse and go on dates is let's debate this topic. Oh. Well, I just think if someone chooses that they're like, on the intelligence spectrum. A little more cerebral, yes. Yeah. And I think it's interesting that you guys have statistics about, like, do people respond to that question?

Like, does it create conversation? I never even thought about that statistic. Of course, you have to study it. Something about it and makes me feel a little turned off immediately because I don't, the word debate, like, I'm like, I don't know if I want to start debating with a stranger and, like, get all heated. But it depends on what it is. I wouldn't like if somebody lobbed, like Donald Trump at me, but if somebody was like,

Seinfelds versus friends or something. Westworld is better than Bill. Or everything. Yeah, totally. But you probably see a lot of, but people would choose that. I see a lot of TV shows as like what they're trying to debate. Totally. It leads to like good banter and back and forth.

Especially if you're doing something sort of lighthearted. Yeah, you shouldn't say like, let's debate this topic like abortion. Right. To me, that's the kind of person that I would be like it's super like a contrarian and like I don't know that we'd get along super well. So I'm not going to engage with that person. Yeah, totally. Let's the big topic of Obama versus Trump.

Yeah. Go. Hillary's emails. It's debate. So I want to take the conversation. I love Hinge. We love Hinge. We love the questions. I think it's super unique. Can I say it my other one that I get the most engagement with? I'm just curious now. And we'll go back to you. I, the pet peeve. What's your number one pet peeve?

So it's written in all caps on my Hinge profile. Can I guess? Can I guess? Guys who are cheap. No. No, it's places without our conditioning. It's people who talk on speakerphone in public. Oh my God. And that's how it reads. It's in all caps.

It's like you can tell. I'm so offended by it. And so that's the guys that engage with that are so funny. Like I think a guy that you guys recommended for me, that was the guy we talked about that we went on a date. He like wrote like his opening to me was I've had actual altercations about this. I think we're meant to be. And I was like, we are. But I think that you can test somebody's creativity like and see what it's like.

And to me it's just so much more dynamic than just like, I like to travel profile. I've hated on people so hard to say. Like they like to travel. Who doesn't like to travel? Right. Yeah. It's like, are you alive? I think I'm going to change my pet peeve to say travel.

I hate travel. So many likes. If you get it, if you get that I'm being totally sarcastic. Whatever the answer to things that would make me happy are, you should, biggest pet peeve's, sunshine, breakfast food, traveling. A warm cup of coffee on a cold day. Shut the fuck up. Yeah, we all like that shit.

Blow jobs. That's no comment. Pet thief's true. travel. People who like to travel. Losers. Orgasms. Anyways, okay. So Hinge is great. We love, we both really love it. But I would like to talk about what online dating has done to the world. Sure. What do you think it's done to the world? A lot of things. And I think there's a lot of good things and bad things. Positively, it's allowed you to connect with more people than ever. And of obviously, write a recipe for what you want, connect with somebody that has sort of like that

recipe of what you want. On the negative side, I think it's the theory of choice is that when you have too many choices, you'll never make one. So it's, you know, are these things good or bad for society? So I think you probably, let's debate it. Yeah, sure. Let's debate this topic. My opinion is it's been good. It's been good on the whole, especially for people who, like, if you live in New York, maybe you've always had, you felt like you've had some choice, but a lot of people don't have as much choice or they do have trouble finding other people, especially in the LGBT community, especially outside New York. So things like, I mean, there was just a study that interracial marriages is increasing pretty

dramatically in the U.S., and it's largely the result of online dating because people are finding people outside. They're sort of like very insular groups. And that same study actually said, and this was out of Oxford, I think, but it also said that marriages are more stable that have met through online dating, less likely to end in divorce. So I think on the one hand, people who engage in it, like it can feel a little bit overwhelming and paradox of choice, but ultimately when you do choose your partner, you feel like you're not missing anything anymore.

Like you've explored the territory and now you're actually making an informed decision about like you've had a few relationships at this point. You've seen what's out there and now you're actually consciously deciding to commit to someone and end up in a relationship with them. And so I think in that sense it's really good. But that said, there are lots of reasons to think that it's not. The paradox of choice thing is an issue, the objectification of people. I think it's part of a broader trend with social media.

Well, just be more of a, like, more pussy where they just like don't need to walk up to somebody anymore. Yeah, I just sit at home and find people. I mean, I guess that's the main argument I hear people say. Yeah, I think that that's, I mean, yeah, it's clear people now feel like they can rely on their phones or like hang out at bars using like a swiping app, which is crazy, as opposed to actually engaging with the people around them. And certainly something has been lost with that. That said, what we think about, I mean, it's an academic question. You could debate either side of it.

But for us at Hinge, my opinion is, I think on the whole it's good, there are definitely some bad aspects of it. We're not going backwards and it's not going away. So the thing that I concern myself at Hinge about is just like, how do we make it the best that it possibly? can be given that like we're not going backwards. Right. And so that's kind of like how I think about that problem.

So how do we reduce the feeling of paradox of choice? How do we reduce the feeling of all this noise? How do we do all that stuff? But there's no doubt. There are downsides. And I'm curious, this is such a cliche question to ask a founder of any sort of technology. But I mean, as far as like what do you see in the future? I mean, do you see, you know, Ray and I and our 30s?

Be dating robots. Oh, right. Sex robots. Sorry, that's the future, guys. But do you say, are a lot of like the day 128 without sex? I fucked a robot. Do you see, Rain and I are in our 30s, like we, most people we know that are single are on the apps, whether you're super active or not, but at least you've, you were

dating when they all kind of surfaced. I mean, 20 year olds, 21 year olds, you know, they, like what's your demo? What's your demo there? I mean, are you noticing? Because, you know, these early 20-somethings, they just grew up really differently. They've had a, they were born with a cell phone on their hand, you know? So it's kind of, are they, are they like? They use the swiping apps in college.

And by the time they turn 23, they're like, I'm just, you know, I'm swiped out. They're swiped out. They're swiping in college? I was like, my time I was 23, I was like, gosh, you know, I've just had so, I've, like, hooked up with so many people. And it's just, I don't know what to do with myself. So I'm curious, like, are the younger, the younger stuff? Are they almost like, are they almost like rejecting it? Well, we had this guy on the show last week who's 21 and he was talking about the difference between women and their

20s and 30s and how they use the apps. So I was wondering if they were even on apps. Yeah, I think, I mean, they are on apps. In the same, or 20-somethings and the same numbers that 30-somethings are? I don't know the statistics on that, but my, I think at a high level, yes, at the same rate, if not higher. We're all out here fucking doing it. Yeah, I think, I think that we're all out here doing it. At Hinge, interestingly, we've gone in a more serious direction, which we thought would maybe, like, raise our average age to 20. 28, 29, 30. It's kind of been like covering on 27, 28.

Are there buckets of like, this is a relationship app versus this is like a hookup app and you think of yourself as more of like a relationship app? Yeah, we definitely think of ourselves more. I mean, from the outside, yes. That's what all the feedback. That's hinges. That's the app. Yeah.

That's right. My vision for hinge is to be like truly like the meaningful connection app. We want to stand for like deeper connections. And theoretically, could you have a really meaningful and great and fulfilling? like fling, like totally. And can you have a really superficial, shitty long-term relationship? Like, absolutely. And I think what we're trying to do is bring people to the level of like depth and increase the feeling of humanity on these apps that ultimately, I think, leads to a much more humane and accountable way of treating each other. And the fact is a lot of people are

looking for that deeper level of connection. That's what they want. But these apps just kind of make it feel so short-term and fun. It's almost like an addiction. Like you don't really want to do it, but you just keep getting brought back to it because it's like the path of least resistance. But I never thought about the fact that like if you live in a small town or if maybe you're a homosexual in a small town or maybe you're like a white girl attracted to black guys. It's like that's a way to like find those things quickly. I never thought about that before. That you aren't so quote unquote acceptable for whatever reason. Or like in your bubble.

Yeah. Or in your bubble. Yeah. I love that statistic of the interracial marriages. I mean, I see it. I totally get it. Yeah. I mean, do you see any things that on the horizon?

that are totally different in the terms of online dating? I mean, I feel like you guys are kind of at the forefront and trying to make this a more quality experience. So ultimately, like, our job and the way that we see the future, at least of Hinge, is to be the leader in second dates. And so we want to be really, really good at getting you out on first dates that actually convert to second dates. That's funny.

I've had this thing that I've never got a second date from an app ever. Interesting. And I did, though. From Hinge? I'm just realizing it. Yes, from Hinge. Yes. Yes, we're achieving our goal.

There's not going to be a third, but it's fine. Okay. Well, we're making progress. But I met and my whole thing now with Hinge and whatever, all apps, but mainly Hinge, because that's the most one I use is like I basically met this guy and I matched immediately. I was like coming me at this bar and he came and we had like a crazy wild date story. We talked about it last week, two weeks ago, whatever. So that's how I like to operate.

But again, you know, I'm in my 30s. I'm like, I don't have time to play around. I live in New York City. You're probably in the neighborhood. Come by. Let's kind of make this feel like we're meeting in the wild, even though we met on an app. But yeah, that was, so I went on a second date with him. It wasn't a love match, but I finally did have my first second date.

Progress. Yeah. So I think that's where we're going. And there's, like, we just released his most compatible feature, which really tries to help you zero in on someone that you like who's also really going to like you. Because, of course, we can show you people who you're really going to like, but the chance that they're necessarily going to truly be interested in you back, even though they may like, you know, like you back on the app.

We're really trying to help you find the person who's truly like, long term going to be interested in you guys are going to have a mutual interest. So that's the idea behind the most compatible is to help you sort of cut through the noise. So that's one way we're going to do it. The other is really making sure that we're following up with people to understand how well the dates are going. Like how can we improve them? Was it a good match or not? Because right now I call my cell phone. Yeah. Well, not we're not getting there yet. But we have been sending, we've at least started with email surveys to start asking people, you know, if they met up with this person. If so, was it good? So that we can pull.

that back into the algorithm to understand the offline chemistry component, not just the matching component that you experience online. Okay, so I have a major question. I have to ask it. You guys are matching people, obviously, based on their answers to these questions and different things like that. Are you guys and other dating apps across the board matching people based on like their attractive level? Like are you guys scanning a bunch of profiles? Like assigning like a number to attract to that? Yes. Yes. No one would ever admit to doing that. Untrue. So I think apps have admitted to doing that. They keep a score that they use based off of it. You think this is a crazy question? Yeah, they absolutely do that. I had no idea. I thought it was a crazy question to answer if you were actually doing it. Okay. So the guys that you guys have served me that are, you think that I'm going to match with. Yeah. They're not like the hottest 10 on the planet. Because I don't really consider myself to be that. I don't know. You probably figured out that they're witty because my answer is whatever it is. I don't know. I mean, I'm tall. But I've always thought that that someone's sitting around.

like that guy's never going to go for that girl. Yeah, we don't sit around and do that per se, but there is a component of that naturally in the way that the algorithm works. And it's not necessarily like we have some, you know, hotness score for every person on the app, which... Do you, though? Well, there's something called an ELO score

that other apps have talked about using. And it's a way that... It's the system that they use for chess players to play each other. It's sort of like, you know, if like it helps you zero in very quickly on someone's ability level. And in that world, it would be like your attractiveness level based on who's liked you and who hasn't. Okay. And we don't use that.

And what we do do is we use machine learning to basically for each person rank order, everyone for you, everyone on the app that exists. So we know probably from like top to bottom, the person you're most likely to like all the way down to the person you're least likely to like based on how you've been liking and passing people in the app. Gotcha. So it's very personalized to you. And then we use a system to make sure that we're, obviously we could show you the person at the very top of that and say like, oh, yeah, but the chance that that person is going to like

you back is like not the high. So we also have a system for making sure that among that pool we're showing you the person that you're most likely to like who's also like going to be like, yeah, exactly. So you should be able to tell. how hot you probably are by the people that you get served on you. So everybody's served to me is a mud duck. That's why. I'm just kidding.

Okay. So people are like great statistics, whatever, all these things. Like how do I make a profile that like people are going to click on and people are going to like? So I want you to talk about like what kind of things do people put in profiles that make people click on you, don't make people click on you? And I read this statistic that said like the number of photos you have of yourself drinking is a direct correlation. to the type of matches you're going to get because somebody maybe is less serious and is

always drunk or always stone is going to click on the person that is always in photos drinking. Got it. And I think you can tell a party guy that's like all his pictures or like in some costume at some party. There's seven guys in the photo. Yeah, like which one are you? You can tell a like frat guy, I think. And I don't want to want that. Okay.

So build me the perfect online dating profile. Sure. Well, so the basic premise, again, this is in rocket science is that like show your personality, right? Because you could obviously craft it in a way that you think you look like super attractive, but the chance that you're going to then get a second date with this person is very low because you've maybe like you haven't shown who you are. You face it in the whole picture. Yeah.

So the fundamental thing is let your personality come through and looks are a component of it, obviously, and you want to accurately show what you look like as well. But personality is a huge piece of it in letting that shine through. So that comes through in photos by like things. that don't work and we have the data to show it is like using lots of filters, sunglasses, obviously with yourself with a significant other, selfies, these kinds of things just like. A filtered selfie. Like you're like a filtered. Yeah, exactly. But there's a certain kind of guy that's going to click on that filtered selfie. Like it's somebody that's not particularly like

has a lot of depths to them. They're like, I'm trying to get inside of that. Great. It's not to leave a second date. But we find at the macro level that people generally, those photos do not get liked, right? So, because we can see which content people are engaging with and people aren't engaging with. And that is not content that people typically engage with. Yeah. The things that people, like a flower crown on your head. Like, no, we all know this isn't your face. Yes. So what do people normally engage with? Things that naturally lead to conversations and things that show off your personality. So, like, I think one of the biggest things is sports photos is a really big one. What does that mean? Like playing sports? You actually like engaging in something that you love.

Yeah, exactly. So you playing a sport, running a marathon, like that kind of thing, showing that like it, not only does it give a sense of who you are and what you're about, but it allows like usually an easy lead in. It's really hard to comment. Like how do you start a conversation with just like someone's face, right? Like you have, you have some context. Like even like meeting out in the wild, right? You usually pick up some context about what's going on in the situation. That's how you would start a conversation with someone in the wild. You would like point out like something happening at the bar or like something like that. A picture was something to comment. comment on it, like, not just like a headshot. Yeah, exactly. I knew it didn't work, but I never really thought about why. It's true. There's not, what would, what would you say? Like, I've had, like, you're hot, want to try butt stuff tonight. Nice face.

Yeah. I've had guys be, like, nice jumpsuit or, like, if I see a guy wearing, like, a funny romper, like, anything. You're totally going to comment on it. Right. I think it's just, trip photos? Yeah. So I think, so I think.

So, uh, sort of, but again, like, it depends, right? It depends on the trip photo? I think it depends on the trip photo. Okay, so what are the bad ones? Well, again, like, if people have seen this, I think the easiest way to think about it is what would I, how would I respond to this photo? Like, if I were someone, like, what would I say in response to this photo? And is that that the kind of response that you want to get? Like, if it's a picture of Machu Picchu, like, a lot of people have been to Machu Picchu, an inexplicable number of been to Machu Picchu at this point.

I haven't been there. I feel personally attacked. Am I a loser? I hate to travel. I just can't believe the number of pictures that I see at Machu Picchu. But it's like, how does that conversation start? That's great. That's cool you've been there too.

I've never been to Machu Picchu. I've never been to Machu Picchu. So, yeah. You know, I got to say, I want to boycott all fish picks, guys holding up a bass or salmon for regular. But it's a sport. It's a sport photo. It's just, it's not for me. But I will say there's a lot less sedated tigers on dating apps.

When I first got on Tinder, it was so many tigers. It was totally. Totally the trend. And it's like, stop, these tigers are not okay. Animal cruelty. I think it's like no more pictures at SeaWorld either, you know? But I just love that like you said, show your personality. And if you're really into sport fishing, there's going to be like a shoe for that foot.

So like there's going to be girls that are super into like hunting and guns. Okay, you're right, you're right. And like, I'm not that girl. You're not a lumber sexual. Some people like that stuff. And also, yeah, like, I can't believe we even need to say this. But like, one of my good girlfriends, I looked at her hand to do. other day. I'm like, every picture was with people, other people than her. And she,

what's that's like? She's so well traveled. It's like, show just you. I think like throwing in one photo that shows, you know, you have friends and you like to go out is great. But when it's like photo after photo after photo of you with other people, then I think people will just, they just kind of like. Well, and they're like trying to crack the code. Yeah, like which one you are. Maybe like a photo with you and your mom. Totally. It's like, I'm a family guy. Totally. Like I feel like your brother is somebody who's so into family should post something like that. I mean, I'm, I have a million friends. I don't have any of them on my fucking dating profile.

This is about me. Yeah. You can assume I have friends. Yeah. I don't know that I would love it if somebody is using a photo of me and now on their dating profile. I don't like, what if you're this picture of me and Raina and a guy's like, well, the other one's hotter? Like, I don't want that either. What does somebody message you and was like, I'm not really into you, but how's your hot friend?

Yeah. I haven't seen that, but I could imagine that it has happened. Because you read everybody's messages? No, I'm just kidding. Can you share other, like, funny statistics with us? Is there anything else, like, really interesting or funny? Well, really quickly, just circle back on your question. I think the easiest way to make sure that your profile is good is just think, like, how would you respond to this?

Are you leaving an opening for someone to be able to respond to this? Like, if it's like what makes me happy, like Sunshine and Travel, like, how do you expect people to respond? Like, me too. Hashtag. Sunshine and puppies. There's really not a lot to say to that. But if it's a, you know, let's debate this topic, like, this show's better than that show. Then there's like, there's like a whole world of banter to begin with that.

And you're going to get a sense of their personality. And there's other things like, I bet you can't. The dorkiest thing about me is I'm weirdly attracted to. You should leave a comment with, if, like, there's lots of ways that you can, like, answer these questions that, like, naturally lead to someone wanting to respond. I just really appreciate what you said about the photos that show your personality. I thought you were going to venture into this question part, but I like that you said, like, let your photos also tell a story that you have a cool, fun life, or just look at your photo they're going to post and think, is there anything someone can comment on this aside from, like,

you're hot, you know, like. And one or two pictures where you're really just looking your best are great. They're not going to be the ones that people like, but they're good background because they know, like, what you do look like. But then I think that's also really important to give people a lead in and not just choose, like, six selfies in a row. Yeah. There's nothing to say.

Okay, so somebody has built the perfect profile, write a roll. How does somebody like craft an opening line? Yeah. So there's really not an optimal opening line on Hinge. The whole idea of Hinge is that we've gotten rid of the feeling like you don't know what to open with or what to say. Like, hey, how's your Monday? Or something like. Delete, delete, delete.

Yeah, exactly. Or just like a wave or something. Like, yeah, emoji. So, I mean, the best opening lines on hinge are contextual. Like, that's the whole point is that you actually comment on a photo or you respond to a prompt in a way that's personal to that person. And you actually have like a real conversation and you don't. And it's the same corollary as the real world. Like the best pickup lines, you don't like walk up to someone in a bar and say like, you know, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?

Right, right, right. It's like, okay, like, if there were some optimal pickup line like that, then everyone would use it and be boring immediately anyway. So what are the real human interactions about something that you see? But you kind of made some of those pickup, you made some of those openers into questions. They're already answered. So, like, a lot of people might be on Bumble or Tinder or whatever opening with two truths and a lie.

You guys already did it. So it's like, you kind of already. Yeah, you've already put that out there. So then the immediate thing is like, you know, is the conversation about which of these is the lie, which one of them? But I love that message, which is the opener for every conversation on earth, whether it's in the wild or on a dating app, Tinder, hinge, whatever, is pick a thing the person's doing and actually, like, start a conversation and respond to it. Right. Well, and that's, it's totally also in the wild.

Like, you're standing in line for something that's taking forever. Like, you just, like, start talking to the person next to you. Like, oh, my gosh, like, what the fuck is Starbucks doing? Like, what, you know, like, it's observational and, like, commenting on something that somebody has going on. They say, like, guys who want to pick up women should, like, walk around with their tag hanging out of their shirts. Like, a girl has to go up and, like, put their tag in. Like, you know, there's just, like, something that's happening with that person. Like, that's what you do.

And so. And to that point, I think that there's, the one other thing that I didn't talk about that I think is really powerful is showing some vulnerability in your profile, right? Like, not trying to look so perfect because vulnerability is, like, those cracks or what allow people to, like, say hi. Well, I mean, I think an example of. The real world example is what you just said, like, leaving a tag out is all, like, invites someone to, like, to, like, come in and look like, you know, the hero in a sense. Like, you're putting yourself in a vulnerable position because you're kind of like an idiot. But, which invites people to come and, like, feel comfortable approaching you and then, like, tucking it back in if they, if they, like, want to tuck it back in. So what would the vulnerability on an app be? Like, I don't know how to ride a bike?

Yeah. You can't ride by her. The look she just gave me. It's so cute because she can't ride a bike. Yes, totally. Like, the dorkiest thing about me, like, I, like, still haven't learned how to ride a bike yet. Listen, it's my deepest darkest secret. I never learned how to ride a bike.

She's crying. It is my deepest darkest secret. I never learned. I can't do a scale of the most four-year-olds can do. You don't do the apps as much, but, like, that is the perfect thing to say. But that's like so much better than, you know, again, an example of the non-vulnerable answer is like, you know, my family makes me happy.

Like, okay, like, you know, that's not, you're not like giving an opening. Sunshine and Travel. Hashtag Sunshine and Travel. Yeah, it's a really shut down way to approach dating because you're just like, you're just trying to conform and like be as sort of simple and basic and protective as possible. And I think putting those little quirks out there is exactly what allows people to connect. Well, okay. We have to wrap up with you because you have to run. Ashley and I are going to do something after you leave. We asked people to submit their weirdest opening lines. So we got some really disgusting stuff that we can't say it.

Not being while you're here. Not on Hinge. I know this feels like we swear no one paid for this episode. You guys were just like promoting Hinge. If you want to throw us some money, we'll take it. But no, yeah, all the disgusting things we got were like not from it. Like people. behave better there. Yeah. Because people look like humans. I mean, that's why. People aren't reduced to swiping objects that feel like a piece of... Totally.

And so we got some... Video game character. Because if you wouldn't walk up to a person in a bar, you'd look in the face, you wouldn't say that kind of stuff. Like, do you want to come over and tie me up and pee on me? You wouldn't say that to somebody to bar. I don't think so. I mean, might.

Some people might. But, yes, so we... We know you have to run, but we are going to stick around and we're going to sift through these crazy opening lines and convos that people sent us. I want to thank you for coming. Of course, thanks for having. This is great. Anything you want to plug, talk about updates coming down the pipeline?

No, it's talked about most compatible, which I think is a really, really cool thing that we've developed. We have some really exciting stuff coming out soon, but I can't talk about it. They'll have to get on Hinge to find out. Yeah, you have to find out. But there's some cool stuff coming out in August. And look for me. I'm on there, guys. You can make us featured people.

Yeah, some of the guys you guys have been saying are compatible with me. I feel a little insulted. We'll talk after. Listen. You stick around. Well, this audience, don't go anywhere. Justin, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

Yes. You can see yourself out. I'm just kidding. Okay, guys, now the Justin's gone. We're going to start a new segment. Now that we got the man out of the room, we want to talk about how terrible men are. No, I'm just kidding.

Are you, though? Not so. Listen, just make the decision for yourself by what's about to happen in this room. I thought, so we put out a call to you guys, what are the best opening lines you've gotten on dating apps, wasn't really sure what we were going to get back. We got a lot of beautiful poetry for men opening lines.

Like, why don't you come over and sit on this day? And, yes, we got a lot of that. I don't want to read all of those because obviously everybody knows those exist. Right. We did. We asked for the good, the bad, and the ugly. So I have some cute ones I want to read as well. But we just thought it would be a perfect thing to wrap up with our Hinge episode by showing these opening lines and opening conversations that happen on the apps.

And just really quickly, I have to do a PSA. The I'm going to Whole Foods. Can I get you anything is over. Ashley's calling it. It's been over. Like, it was a, have you, you know what I'm talking about? A master of none. Yeah.

Right. So Aziz Ansari did it on Master of None and everyone started doing it thinking they were being unique. As it's so over, it's been over for like a year plus. So anyway, that's retired. Raina. Do you want to hit on with one of your favorites? I mean, what I took from this is that men are really gross, but you guys should feel empowered to report people that send you really disgusting messages because we got hundreds of them.

Right. And we did talk to Justin about this offline and not that it's a secret, but Hinge will get rid of people that write you nasty stuff. So if someone writes you something really offensive, disgusting, they monitor this stuff as well, but you can always just click report. Okay. So let's get into it. You want to switch off?

You want to read a bad one? I'll read a good one to start? I want to read one that a girl opened with. Okay. It's my last weekend in town. Want to pretend you're interested in pursuing me when we both have ulterior motives so I feel better about the whole thing? Question mark. I like it. Honesty. Honesty. Very honest. And he says, sure. So what's up? It worked. Perfect. It worked. Nine out of ten for honesty. Should we write these? All right. Do you want to hear one of my favorites? Yes. This was on Hinge. And you know, Hinge says, things about you, your height, whether you drink or smoke, your religion, all these things. Mark liked this girl, and his comment under his like was, I'm assuming you put other for religion

because Jehovah thickness wasn't available. I like Mark. I like Jehovah thickness. That might not be an original. It's not. I've heard that before. But it is really funny? Yeah, I have.

Well, you're not as fat as I am. I'm just kidding. I had to call one up just because I wasn't even going to say this one, but apparently, Juan is friends with Mark and they go to the same opening line club because this guy threw at. Look at those child rearing thighs. Sexy as fuck. That's not a thing, bud. Child rearing hips.

Thighs. A kid doesn't come out of your thighs. Get anatomy right. I'm most offended by that. It wasn't just that he said she had big thighs. He thinks that uterus is in your thighs. All right. Well, Mark and Juan, you guys need to go back to ninth.

grade P.E. and take a class. Oh, I like this one. A girl sent this as well. The guy was clearly a fireman, and she sent him on Bumble. She opened on Bumble. I'd set my house on fire if it meant you'd show up, which I've considered before. Arson? Casual arson.

You know, we love arson. He said, I'd come, even if it wasn't on fire. Winky face. Oh, shit. All right. Girls will just do anything for a man these days, huh? All right. Do you have one? Because I have a disgusting one. I do. I have maybe my favorite of the bunch. We got like 200.

Okay. Okay. John writes to Libby. Hey, I hate to start out this conversation with something so morbid. But recently I've been diagnosed with a rare disease known as, I can't read this word because it's the whole line. You can look it up if you want. But essentially, blood flow is slowly cutting off my ears and theoretically, they are falling off. I have really warm ears with the perfect texture. So for medical purposes,

I need you to sit on my face. Okay. There's so many questions. Sure. P-min. Fucking weirdo. And you know that that line is saved in his notes and he just copies and bastes. It's the whole page. You couldn't type this. I couldn't type this. I wouldn't even read that whole. I don't have the time for that. Yeah. You know how I feel about reading. Ashley, like, knows, I don't even read like flight itineraries. I'm like, what time we're leaving tomorrow? She's like, you have all this and you're even? I don't read. I would see this and get scared, by the amount of words on this page. Okay.

So I love that all we took from this is too many words. Too many words. Don't care what the words are. T-D-L-R. There's just too many. What is it? T-L-T-L-D-R. Too long didn't read.

I would respond with T-L-D-R. Okay. Speaking of poetry, you ready for this one? Yeah. I wish I could, I don't know what a poetic voice to read this in, but my own voice will have to do. I drag my balls through five miles of broken glass and rusty nails just to hear you fart. What?

So many things are going on. I mean, like, why would I want to meet you after you self-mutilated like that? That's beautiful, though. Thank you, Romeo, for doing that for me. This one, on a scale of zero to America, how free are you to sit on my face? Okay, I'm going to call. Okay, you shut down the Whole Foods thing. I'm going to call it.

Free to America is the most uninteresting, low baseline. I'm calling it. That's over. We're done. There was another America one. This is, again, it's super cliche. It's been used. But it's still, it's kind of cute.

She liked it. She said, so how patriotic are you? And he said on a scale of 1 to 10, I am 1776. I'm not mad at that. I'm not. At least he took it a bit further and got creative with it. You just had a weird face. What is coming?

If you're going to hit me with some weird, like, Benjamin Franklin stuff, that's fine. Okay. So I was thinking about what Justin said in terms of, like, leading questions to open up a conversation. So I read the first line of this. I'm like, oh, cute. They did a nice. job and then it quickly descends in like two sentences and decide for us. So Addy, adorable Addy, opens with, would you rather never listen to music again or

never watch TV or movies again? He responds, never watch movies again. And then hits her back with, would you rather go down on your grandma or have your grandpa go down on you? Disgusting. What? What is wrong with people? What is what?

That's like, and then sweet Addy wrote, nope, bye. Good for you, girl. Yeah. Shut that shit down. We're not, okay, here's my question. Like, how does your, how does your mind, that's just a gross guy? Like, how does your mind go there? But do they all like this?

Like, in my mind, here's what I envision. All guys are, like, walking around the streets of New York City, just, like, normal people with, like, normal people masks on. And then, like, at their work break, they, like, go into the bathroom and in the urinal, they're just, like, sending all these, like, DMs to girls that are disgusting. Like, is it all of them? No, it's not all of them, because I'll read you this one. We have some good ones.

We mind one. This guy, Joshua, opens, I would totally build you a house made out of tacos and hand-feed you grapes while you lay on a Roman sofa. They're not all bad. And she goes, probably the best first message I've ever received, although if I'm in a house of tacos, I'd probably want to eat some tacos, not grapes. Fair. He writes, well, I can't feed you tacos on a sofa made out of grapes. That's just impractical. I'm like, this is cute.

They're not all bad. Yeah, but I would have been like, oh, so I could eat myself out. And then the conversation would have ended. I would have ended this one. Someone opened what I voted for Hillary. I like that one. So what's our consensus on this? They're not all bad.

There's just a lot of really gross ones. They're gross. And the men go on these apps. And I'm putting the impetus all on men. I'm sure some women do this. I don't know. Some women do this. All the women that message left.

Good point. We're going to talk about whatever episode. We're going to talk about this double standard later. But yeah, I think I like that the apps are taking this stuff seriously, the ones that are disgusting and bad and harassment. I mean, it just feels like we've given people this ability to hide behind their phones and act like the worst, lowest baseline of human behavior in the world. And it's disgusting. And like, I don't know, like, what kind of human being takes, like, humor in, like, what you're sending out of these, like, blanketed gross messages to girls.

Like, I want to, I want you to sit on my face. Like, yeah. What's wrong with people? Yeah. Well, another takeaway is that just be more clever. Be creative. Right. I'll probably sit on your face as long as you have like a normal opening line.

The way to get me to sit on your face is to not tell me to sit on your face. It just doesn't work. Like did some guy do this like one time and it worked and now they just think that this is going to. I mean, it's just stuff of lore now. But yeah. So the Q-1s we read, go for, strive for more of that. You like Joshua. Oh, little Joshy.

Taco House. Now I want tacos. All right, we got to go because I got to get tacos. We got to go. So thank you guys for tuning in. to another episode. We had a great time with Justin. We did.

I'm going to be on Hinge the rest of the day now. I already updated my profile while you guys were talking. I know I have to do my profile as well. Anyways, thank you guys for listening. You can follow us on social media and Twitter and Instagram. Girls Got to You Podcast. Keep subscribing, rating, reviewing. We will see those of you who bought tickets to Carolines on September 12th.

Can't wait to meet you. And we'll see you next week. Thanks, guys. Have a good week. Bye. Thank you.