FAQ
The Basics
What is this?
The Human Connection Project is a set of compatibility tools that event organizers can use for their communities. If you run a recurring event series (meetups, dinners, hikes, game nights), HCP helps your attendees find the people they're most likely to connect with, even across events they didn't both attend.
How is this different from a dating app?
Dating is one thing you might meet people for, but friends and activity partners are also valuable, and in fact, finding people you connect with and then later deciding to date is a great pattern for many. We want to enable the entire spectrum of meeting people you click with.
One tool we're trying to build works alongside real, in-person events that already exist. The tech layer is just there to help people find the right connections within a community, especially the ones they haven't bumped into yet.
Is it free?
Yes. The project is free to use.
Is this a startup?
Certain dating apps have demonstrated that dating shouldn't be owned for-profit. It's bad for all of us. This is currently a hobby, not a commercial project. If it were to take off, we'd look at ways to make it a nonprofit.
Why aren't there any pictures?
Looksism is as bad as any other -ism. People don't choose the bodies they're born into. If someone is a good match and willing to come to an event you were already likely to go to, you should be willing to invest 20 minutes finding out if they're a good person. People are often more interesting in person than their pictures suggest.
If you're curious about this idea, check out Ted Chiang's "Liking What You See: A Documentary", a story about a future where people can turn off their perception of physical beauty.
Why can't I message my matches online?
On purpose. People tend to be at their best when meeting strangers face-to-face. Online messaging... well, the evidence is the entire internet. Text strips out tone, body language, and the natural accountability of being in a room with someone. First impressions over text skew toward performance and snap judgment. We'd rather you invest 20 minutes at an event discovering whether someone is interesting than 20 texts deciding whether to bother.
Our Current Experiments
We're testing a few ideas. Here's what we're working with right now, and we'd love your feedback on all of it.
The Preferences Quiz
When you sign up, we ask you to take a short quiz. It presents pairs of activities and asks which you'd prefer. Through a series of these comparisons, we build a profile of how you like to connect with people. Most folks finish in under 5 minutes.
The quiz isn't trying to tell you who you are. It's trying to figure out what kinds of interactions and activities you gravitate toward, so we can point you toward people with similar (or complementary) tendencies.
The 13 Dimensions
Your quiz results map to 13 different dimensions that capture how you like to spend time with people: things like physical intensity, social depth, creative expression, and competitive drive. Together they paint a picture of your "connection style."
Is 13 the right number? Are these the right dimensions? Honestly, we're still tuning this. It's working well enough to be useful, and we're iterating based on what we learn. If you take the quiz and something feels off, tell us.
Cross-Event Matching
This is the part we're most excited about. Say you go to a summer picnic but skip the fall game night. Someone who's a great match for you was at the game night but not the picnic. HCP can surface that connection so you don't have to be at every event to meet the right people.
The goal: take the pressure off. Come when you can, and trust that the tools will help you find the people who matter.
Micro Meetups (Coming Soon)
As communities grow, we're planning to help organizers set up small gatherings of 5 to 7 people who the compatibility tools suggest would really enjoy each other. No big mixer energy, no working-the-room pressure. Just a small group that's more likely to actually click.
This one is still in the planning stages. If you have thoughts on what would make a micro meetup great (or terrible), we want to hear them.
For Event Organizers
How does HCP work with my existing events?
You bring the community and the events. We bring the compatibility tools. Your attendees take a short quiz, and HCP helps them discover who in the community they're most likely to connect with. It works across your whole event series, not just a single night.
Do I need to change how I run my events?
Not at all. HCP is a layer on top of what you already do. Your events stay the same; attendees just get better at finding each other.
Can I suggest or organize new events through HCP?
Yes. We want organizers involved in shaping how this works. If you run events and want to try HCP with your community, reach out.
Privacy
What do you do with my data?
We collect your email and quiz responses. We use them only to make the app work. We don't sell data, don't show ads, and don't share with third parties. If we ever change this policy, you'll get 30 days' notice and a real chance to opt out. You can delete your account and all data anytime. Read the full Privacy Policy.
Help Us Build This
This feels early-stage. Is it?
Yes, and we're not trying to hide that. We're figuring this out as we go, testing ideas, iterating on what works. We think the best way to build something like this is out in the open, with the people who are using it.
How can I give feedback?
However feels natural: email us, tell us at an event, fill out a survey, or just reply to anything we send you. We read everything.