This is just a thought I had that I wanted to bounce off people who know more about ActivityPub/the fediverse— would it be feasible (and would it make sense) to build an open-source, ActivityPub-compatible dating app as an alternative to Tinder/Bumble/etc.? And if so, what could that look like? Obviously the small userbase would be an issue, but I feel like there’s enough frustration with the mainstream apps that there’d be at least some migration if a good decentralized & non-commercial option existed. I know I’d use it. What do y’all think?
if don’t know why it would be more specifically honest than other apps. that’s really only defined by the user base, and their behaviour is likely to be shaped by what gets results. which, for better or, more likely, worse, seems to be that type of fake profile shit.
with luck there’s be fewer bots, though. I don’t think I got more than one single match with a real person while I was on tinder (I’m in nz, though, so pulsation density is definitely a factor there)
My argument about why would be more honest than other apps is that it would be distributed and self-hosted. Most dating apps are trying to eventually monetize you. It isn’t that the users are more or less honest, is that the platform for themselves are less honest because they need to make you feel like it’s worthwhile popping money on their dating website. Moreover, a self-hosted solution doesn’t need to impress investors by having 12 billion users.