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Earlier this week I got Facebook email with the subject "PRIVATE note :) :) :)" from that application that felt a bit spammy (my changes and notes in bold):
Your private matches :)Apart from the slightly dirty feeling it gave me getting that email, I wondered why SpeedDate.com were using a gmail.com address for questions. In response I removed and blocked the application and forgot about it.
Click here! (link to application page removed)
P.S. We added SpeedDate functionality to Would You Rather make the app more fun and interactive, and changed the name to SpeedDate.
If you have questions about this, please email (gmail.com email address removed)
This morning there was an item in my Facebook notifications feed saying (Again I've removed hyperlinks):
Have You Ever has been changed to SpeedDate to make it even better! The app's name will now be SpeedDate, and data entered into the original app will be used by SpeedDate to create a fun experience for you. Click here to try it!So this time I dug a bit and found that there are three "SpeedDate (Formerly ...)" apps now, the two I had and one previously called "Romantic Gifts". There is also one just called SpeedDate, presumably the "original"? I don't know who the original developers of the other three are, but now they belong to SpeedDate.com. That domain is registered to SpeedEdate Inc in Palo Alto.
A little odd to me is that bit about them using the data enetered in the original "Have You Ever?" application. The old application asked for yes/no answers to fun questions like "Have you ever swum in the ocean?" and the like. One that I aswered yes to was "Have you ever seen a dead body?" (I'm a former emergency medicine worker, it comes with the territory). So are they going to hook me up with girls who have a thing for corpses? Seriously though, it feels a lot like sneaky data mining to me, when I originally signed up for the app I was not answering the questions with the view that my answers would be used by an online dating company.
I have sent a feedback question to Facebook asking if this sort of thing is acceptable, it should be interesting to see their answer (if one arrives at all).
15 comments:
pparantly, speeddate has bought a bunch of apps, switched the code and claimed the users. it is probably the growth strategy for an app that otherwise would not get any users, but facebook really needs to ban this type of behaviour cause it opens up users to all kinds of junk, what if speeddate has a bunch of pervs and ends up on a teenager's page...
Hi Andy,
We just read your blog post and are happy to answer any questions or concerns. Feel free to email: info(at)speeddate(dot)com.
Best,
SpeedDate
@SpeedDate - I would prefer to keep this in the open, so I hope you come back and check here again.
I have some concerns.
Firstly, why were the apps just switched with no notice? I'm sure there are many of the users of the old apps who would have wanted to remove the apps before you took them over.
Secondly, what is meant by "data entered into the original app will be used"? I certainly did not originally provide that information for use in a dating application. It's likely none of the original users would have.
Thirdly, could you please also reply to the points made by the first commenter?
Thanks
Johan "Andy" Kruger
I've had the same issue with Speed date on my Facebook. Can any of you tell me how exactly to remove this application?It's driving me nuts!!
I have had the same problem today, my email complaint to Facebook sums it up, "...get rid of these losers."
I have not signed up but they spamed me today and indicated I had.
Very good article! found a link to your blog via TechCrunch
I just for the very first time got an email from speeddate.com, even though I had promptly removed the 'Would You Rather? application from facebook after it had switched to speeddate. I just wrote them a rather long letter threatening to report them, as not only do I feel totally disgusted that my picture and my location was posted on a dating website for months without my knowledge or permission. More importantly, there are of course younger users on facebook, who are now left open to extremely older men (I'm in my 20's and was getting messages from men well into their 40's leaving creepy messages) ,who could be of danger to them. I have threatened to report them. I don't know exactly what steps I would take, but I think what they did was beyond tasteless.
I actually just realized after seeking the web for help in this matter, that on the bottom of the home page on facebok, there's a whole whack of additional applications that were not displayed when I clicked on "Applications". SO, once you get into those, you can delete the Speed Date one and all the others that you may have forgotten you've had.
Best of luck!
M
UGh - thank you for the last post - you are a lifesaver - that thing stinks!
Found SpeedDate emails from FacebookApps to my husband on our shared email. I thought it had to be some quirky thing going on and Googled "SpeedDate Facebook" and found a slew of articles explaining SpeedDate's stealth tactics to gain subscribers. Apparently they took over Oregon Trail in addition to other unrelated apps.
When he came home from church, I jokingly told him he came pretty close to living in the dog house (then explained why). He jokingly replied that we should call Geoffrey Fieger (local fame-seeking lawyer) for screwing up our marriage.
Now - it really wasn't a problem for us since I knew there had to be more to it. But I have no doubt that some couple is going to get caught up in a problem with this.
So, what can I do to get rid of all the Speeddate spam emails? Will it work by just deleting the Speeddate app as described by anonymous on 5 march? I feel kind of afraid just "touching" that app.
In fact, I think it is kind of strange that the Speeddate app appear in peoples BOXES tab even if they have never used speeddate or any of the three hijacked apps.
To get rid of it this is what you do:
Go to bottom left side of your Facebook Homepage, select Applications and then Edit applications.
When you're there select drop down "Show:" and select Authorized. When you are there you can edit Speeddate's settings or do what I did and delete it altogether. Make sure you give it a bad rating so that they know the app is no good.
Thanks so much for posting this info about SpeedDate. Ew just saying it gives me the creeps. I have removed the app and now cross my fingers.
Haha Jeanne.. I'm that couple that got in trouble over this spam!
I can't believe SpeedDate have been allowed to do this.
I've been researching into this just to prove to my partner that I haven't gone out of my way to be on some dating site!
Thanks for all the info guys. It's helped me out :)
Folks, I'm going to close comments on this post now.
New comments are not allowed.