‘Shrek Virus’ Scare Newest Troll Dating Site Publicity Con

BeautifulPeople.com, the dating site that is primarily known for trolling the media via a series of outlandish and insulting press releases about their website for people purportedly of above-average physical attractiveness, claims that a ‘Shrek virus’ enabled tens of thousands of uggos to briefly populate their service.

Just about this time last year, the site announced a ‘fertility service’ that was initially pretty people only, they claimed, but then said they relented when they realized ugly people should be able to breed, too:

“Initially, we hesitated to widen the offering to non-beautiful people. But everyone – including ugly people – would like to bring good looking children in to the world, and we can’t be selfish with our attractive gene pool.”

The site previously had a ‘breach’ of attractiveness, when several members allegedly gained weight over the Christmas holidays- the story was widely carried in the media though there was no indication people all updated their profiles simultaneously with less attractive pics. The people behind the site are at it again- it’s not really clear whether trolling is their business model, or this is just an elaborate performance art stunt.

After they say 30,000 members of sub-par attractiveness were admitted to the site due to a ‘Shrek virus,’ managing editor Greg Hodge made the following comment to the media:

“We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period, many of whom were no oil painting.”

“We responded immediately, repairing the damage from the ‘Shrek Virus’ and putting every new member back into the rating module for a legitimate and democratic vote. The result is that we have lost over 30,000 recent members.

“We have sincere regret for the unfortunate people who were wrongly admitted to the site and who believed, albeit for a short while, that they were beautiful. It must be a bitter pill to swallow, but better to have had a slice of heaven then never to have tasted it at all.”

Right. You can read a bit more on Sophos on why the stunt- and possibly the site- are probably not entirely straightforward about their motives.