BAMAPHIN 22
06-20-2011, 12:08 PM
A dating website that caters specifically to individuals deemed "attractive" by their peers recently dumped about 30,000 members because, it claims, they were only granted access to the service due to a rather peculiar virus — and not because they met a standard of "beauty."
The Guardian reports that BeautifulPeople.com suspects that the so-called "Shrek" virus was planted by a disgruntled former employee, but there appears to be no evidence to back up this claim. No matter how the issue was caused, according to Greg Hodge — the site's managing director — it somehow "affected the software that existing members use to rate prospective new entrants."
As a result, BeautifulPeople.com was forced to send devastating emails to the individuals who slipped through the usually ruthless admission process before the issue was noticed:
[Hodge] attempted to placate the rejects. "I sent them all a very carefully worded email, trying to be as sensitive as possibly," he said. "But naturally many of them are finding it a bit of a sting to have been rated beautiful by their peers only to lose the accolade overnight." The company has paid out $112,500 in refunds to 4,500 of the 30,000 who had paid $25 a month for membership of the site. The others were still on a free trial period.
We're not sure whether to laugh or cry as Hodge stumbles over his words while explaining and justifying his actions. The Guardian quotes him as calling the rejected members "no oil painting," while making remarks such as "we have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people — that's what our members have paid for [...] we can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet."
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The Guardian reports that BeautifulPeople.com suspects that the so-called "Shrek" virus was planted by a disgruntled former employee, but there appears to be no evidence to back up this claim. No matter how the issue was caused, according to Greg Hodge — the site's managing director — it somehow "affected the software that existing members use to rate prospective new entrants."
As a result, BeautifulPeople.com was forced to send devastating emails to the individuals who slipped through the usually ruthless admission process before the issue was noticed:
[Hodge] attempted to placate the rejects. "I sent them all a very carefully worded email, trying to be as sensitive as possibly," he said. "But naturally many of them are finding it a bit of a sting to have been rated beautiful by their peers only to lose the accolade overnight." The company has paid out $112,500 in refunds to 4,500 of the 30,000 who had paid $25 a month for membership of the site. The others were still on a free trial period.
We're not sure whether to laugh or cry as Hodge stumbles over his words while explaining and justifying his actions. The Guardian quotes him as calling the rejected members "no oil painting," while making remarks such as "we have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people — that's what our members have paid for [...] we can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet."
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.