Chemistry.com Review

Chemistry, the central science. It has to do with the structure, composition, and energetics of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes. Wait, wrong review. As much as I’d like to be reviewing the physical sciences (I’ll save that for another blog), it’s about time that we take a good hard look at Chemistry.com, the hot new dating site out there that promises to connect you to your perfect match based on a personality algorithm designed by Dr. Helen Fisher.

It’s been awhile since I’ve tried a mainstream dating site, so I figured that I’d give this a try. The idea of pairing you off based on a fairly comprehensive personality seemed intriguing to say the least. I figured that it was worth it to see who I was in some sort of quantifiable container and how that might have matched me up with a similar partner.

So, right out of the gate, Chemistry lays on you a series of questions that seem to never end. I’m not kidding, just creating a profile on this site takes a loooong time. The site asks you lots and lots of questions in order to try to figure out what type of person you are in order to pair you off with what they’ll think is a proper match for you. and I thought that the last chemistry test I ever had to take was in high school!

Most of the questions were like the one above, something that you’d expect a dating site to be interested in, especially one that’s trying to find a similar personality match to you. Other questions seemed a little more out of left field. For instance:

I tend to draw detailed self-portraits while I wait at the airport, is that an option?

Or here’s another that stumped me:

I “strongly disagree” that there could be anything exciting on the other side of that wall! What a ludicrous notion to think that there might possibly be anything at all behind a wall. As far as I’m concerned, the universe simply ceases to exist outside of my field of vision. Why? Because I am an infant.

Anyhow, just when you think that the test is just about to be finished, it throws a ton more questions at you. I found myself continuously checking the progress bar that they thankfully give you below the test to see if I was going to be finished anytime soon or I would have to go through another set of endless questions.

I have to give Chemistry.com some credit, though. It’s not like the test wasn’t kind of fun, especially when they threw some of the weirder questions at you. Also the design was slick and satisfying to look at, which is something that not too many dating sites think all that much about, sadly.

The toughest part of the “test” is the mandatory 200 character essay that you have to write about yourself before you’re allowed to continue to the rest of the site. I’m not kidding! I had to write a little short story about myself from the getgo. Well, at least I know how awesome I am, so I can at least talk a little about that.

Well once I was in the site, I was presented with a few payment options, and that was even before I had a chance to look at the site itself. I just took their endless personality test! Okay, Chemistry.com, slow down there! Let me look around a little before I drop $125!

Thankfully, there is a lot of the site that’s available to free users, but it’s a little hard to find where the link to the site is out of the subscription page.

What Chemistry.com does is it crunches all of that data that you gave it, it places you into one of four personality “types” that I suppose is the basis of Dr. Fisher’s theories. At least there was only four types. I dread any dating site based on the Myers-Briggs personality test that has sixteen different types.

It turned out that I was a “director” which means… well I’m not sure what it means, but I could tell that the site wasn’t all that keen on pairing me with another director. Would the strength of our combined awesomness destroy the world?

Instead I was matched up with some other types. The four types apparently are: directors, negotiators, builders, and explorers. Unfortunately, Chemistry.com only gives you ten possible matches for you to choose from in your geographical area. If you happen to not like those ten, then too bad. Are you doubting the reliability of Dr. Fisher’s personality test?

Also they make it slightly harder to view their pictures. They do have pictures, you just have to click through to see them. I suppose that part of Chemistry’s philosophy is that personality is more important than looks.

Well it didn’t take long to figure out why the site had that in mind. The women on this site were, for the most part, lets say rather homely. I could flip through their profiles, and send them messages, or “wink” them as well. There is an IM function which I suppose could be good. After a little while, I did start getting some interested ladies connecting to me. I’ll call these women ladies since “girls” isn’t really appropriate for these examples of the feminine sex, and I still want to be polite. Granted all of them seem to be perfectly nice and lovable women.

Am I too shallow?

The idea of putting you through a comprehensive personality test in order to be allowed to date might one day have some play in the online dating world. OKCupid is known for having quite an extensive user-generated questionnaire designed to match you with as close of a match as possible. The key difference with that test and Chemistry.com’s seems to be that it’s optional and you can answer as many or as few questions as you like.

I’m very well familiar with different type markers that can be assigned to people’s personalities in order to better peg them. The world of psychology is full of them. I’m not even going to go in to astrology or any of the New Age theories that further try to find a nice little box to put you in. Ultimately the problem is that you can’t truly define somebody by a few test questions. Chemistry.com breaks people into four categories and tries to pair them of thusly. With that logic, 1.7 billion people in the world are roughly exactly alike. That’s absurd. The truth is we’re a lot more than how anyone could define you by your birthday, or the shape of your face, or even how you answer a series of questions, no matter how detailed they can get.

In a way this goes to the whole problem of internet dating as a whole. You can’t know for sure if you’re a good match with somebody based on something that a computer decides. You still have to meet these people and actually interact with them in person in order to see if you’re compatible. The fact that Chemistry.com only gives you ten matches and swears that you’d be a good match just because they answered that same test in a similar way, is crazy. No test can define me, and I hope, no test could define you either.

cost

The free aspect of the site is actually fairly robust and you can do quite a lot without actually paying anything. However, as a subscriber, you have a lot more flexibility within the site. You receive daily personalized matches and can communicate with them at any time. Mostly you can see who is interested in you, which is always a nice touch.

Pros

Chemistry.com is one of those sites that looks like it could occasionally get you a few good dates. In spite of my skepticism over the reliability of personality tests, they do sometimes seem to work for helping us find a match. There doesn’t seem to be too many fake profiles, bots, or prostitutes floating around the site, which is refreshing considering what you can often see with dating sites. Also, the design of the site is quite nice, something that is often overlooked by these sites. Chemistry.com was a pleasure to browse through and to look at.

Cons

It seems like quite a stretch to break everyone down into a mere four personality types and hope that that’s enough to pair them off. Also, I was a little disappointed by the general quality of the women on the site. Sure, there were a few good-looking ones, but compared to what you would usually get, let’s say they’re slim pickin’s. Likewise, by only giving you ten matches a day, it can really limit your options in finding a date. Having so few options can keep a budget on the amount you’ll spend on the site, but if those options are really that unsatisfying, why would you stay on the site for long?

Bottom Line

I’d say, Chemistry could be worth a try. If you’re the type of person who puts a lot of faith into personality tests, then by all means, go for it! I’m more a skeptic in these matters (of course that’s exactly what a director would say, right?) and I’ll probably stick to my old favorite sites when it comes to finding a date. That being said, I’d say that Chemistry.com is doing it’s best to make a quality dating site and it will probably be with us for years to come.

Click here to visit Chemistry.com.

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