The New York Daily News’ Jason Cochran on the current trend amongst online dating sites to reject applicants based on dubious criteria.

Take eHarmony, the country’s third-most-popular dating site. Although it claims it has masterminded 10,000 weddings, it actually rejects between 16% and 20% of everyone who fills out its initial “personality profile” questionnaire. After taking more than an hour to plod through 436 questions (Are you “quarrelsome”? “Gregarious”?), nearly one in five people receives an E-mailed form letter:

“Unfortunately, we are not able to make our profiles work for you. Our matching model could not accurately predict with whom you would be best matched.”

Translation: “You’re too weird to be lovable.”

Exactly what sort of responses to eHarmony’s screening quiz will make Cupid put away his quiver and bow?

Greg Forgatch, eHarmony’s CEO, wouldn’t tell. He did say, through a statement, “Unless we have a high degree of confidence that our Compatibility Matching System can help a person establish a strong, satisfying and long-lasting relationship, we won’t attempt to match them.”

And if Lady Love hasn’t been on your side in the past, don’t expect Lady Luck to undo the damage: If you’ve been married more than twice, you won’t make the cut on eHarmony, either. EHarmony also rejects gay users. Its creator, Neil Clark Warren, a former colleague of Christian conservative James Dobson, has explained the omission by saying that since gay marriage isn’t legal in most states, “we don’t really want to participate in something that’s illegal.”


(Warren : doesn’t wanna participate in anything illegal, but discrimination’s totally cool)

Lonely readers of CSTB, I feel your pain, and perhaps you can take solace in knowing there are other ways to meet that special someone.