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Consumating

URL	http://www.consumating.com/
Type of site	Social network service
Owner	CNET
Created by	Ben Brown and Adam Mathes

Consumating is a social networking website founded in 2002 by Ben Brown and Adam Mathes. It uses tags as a way for members to interact with one another, as well as multiple contest for photo and text. Users can also rate one another in a tongue-in-cheek approach to an online popularity contest.

Contents 1 About 2 History 3 See also 4 External links

Consumating runs under the slogan, A New Way to Find People Who Don't Suck. Despite the title, Consumating is not merely a dating site, but more of a social network where users can find others with similar interests based on the tags displayed in their profile or by location (using their zip code), as well as gender and age. Users have the ability to message each other, although they are limited to ten new messaging contacts a month.

A user profile consists of up to five pictures of any kind that the user wishes to upload, a personal motto, and whatever tags that the user wishes to give themselves.

Users also have the ability to rate each other's profiles with a simple option of a thumbs up or thumbs down. Each thumbs up gives the user two points, while each thumbs down removes one point. People are ranked in terms of their popularity based on total points. Other users are also allowed to add tags to other people's profiles, which are listed separately from the tags submitted by a user to their own profile.

Users also have the ability to start conversations, similar in style to miniature message boards. The user can choose any topic and other users can respond however they see fit until the original author decides to close the subject. This means that only one subject can be open for a user at a time. Conversations also serve as fodder for the anonymous quotes which appear in the "Just Overhead" feature at the top of the Consumating interface.

The owners of the website also hold weekly contests for users, always in two forms. The first is a Question of the Week, new every Monday, in which the users can give a single answer that other users can rate, similar to profiles. Answers can be serious or completely random, as there is no strict guideline for how to participate in this contest. Users can also add a single picture to their answer. In 2006, Consumating changed the policy for giving thumbs up or thumbs down to the question contest by removing the possibility of someone giving a thumbs down on a user's page. However, the ability to thumb down a response remained in a separate section of the website dedicated to that week's particular question, making it more difficult for users to enter a thumb down for every single question that a person has listed on their page, an act termed thumb bombing.

The other weekly contest is a photo contest, new every Friday, in which Consumating's owners pick a topic, and users must upload a picture illustrating or relating to the topic, often as a self-portrait. Again, there are no strict rules about this, and users are able to upload anything they want, even slight nudity in some cases. Users are yet again allowed to rate these pictures, which add to a user's overall popularity total.

Consumating is also a big supporter of its members meeting in person, usually in large groups. These meetings, termed Consumeetings, are publicized on the website's front page to help promote the various locations at which meetings occur.

The site was founded in 2002 by Ben Brown and Adam Mathes. Brown and Mathes, who originally coined the term Google bomb in 2001, later joined together to form the joke website personals.uber.nu, which was meant to mimic online dating, but later evolved into Consumating. After its sale to CNET Networks in 2005, the team was joined by Josh Goldberg. Adam Mathes is no longer involved in the day to day running of the site.

• List of social networking websites

• Consumating.com
• Independent Film Channel's sneak peak of SXSW: Behind the Badge, which included an interview with Ben Brown about Consumating
• TechCrunch profile on Consumating's history
• Geek Entertainment TV interview with Ben Brown at Consumating's first San Francisco party
• "Even a Geek Needs Lovin'", an article from Wired News about online dating sites

CNET
Websites
Consumating | Download.com | GameFAQs | Game Rankings | GameSpot | Metacritic | MP3.com | mySimon | TechRepublic | TV.com | Webshots | ZDNet
People
Veronica Belmont | Ina Fried | Jeff Gerstmann | Greg Kasavin | James Kim | Declan McCullagh | Tom Merritt | Halsey Minor | Alex Navarro | Daniel Terdiman | Molly Wood
Other
Buzz Out Loud | CNET TV