crowdsourcing

So for a meager $55 a week, plus an invaluable party story and a $10 bonus for every woman I successfully got to agree to a date, I provided El_Zorro's wooing material. But, I was no Cyrano pouring my heart out into beautifully crafted missives – instead, I was an inbox-hack, strategically spamming a handful of Roxanes a minute. While a touch of style, good grammar, and humor are important in online dating, effective messages are more formula than art. As OkCupid's blog points out, there's data to dating.

The premise is simple: a bot reads the comments of the people watching a game of Pokémon Red and translates them into commands — the comment "up" moves the player up; "b" presses the b button etc. What could go wrong?

Right now, Aunt Bertha consists of Gray, two part-time employees and the crowdsourced knowledge of users who can report incorrect information or add programs that aren't listed (which are then verified by Gray or a staffer). Currently, the site also offers live chats if someone is navigating the site and can't find what he's looking for, something Gray says he'll do for as long as he and his small staff are able as the site grows.