Abstract

We specify an online dating matching system in which discovery is gated on a reputation built from anonymous gratitude records instead of photographs, and a match fires only on mutual anonymous interest between users verified as real humans. The reputation (termed "aura") aggregates thank-you acknowledgments a user has received from many nearby verified strangers over a long period; no individual acknowledgment is read, and it changes only a user's ordering in a local anonymous pool, never anyone's obligation to respond. No photographs appear in discovery. The match trigger requires each of two users to independently and anonymously give time to the other, in attested physical proximity, reaching a threshold T hours in each direction within a window W; the state machine is disclosed, and non-reciprocation produces no rejection event and writes no record. Reaching the threshold only offers identity reveal; reveal requires a second, separate consent from both parties, after which the revealed party controls pace, public-first meetings and re-anonymization. A per-transfer anonymity flag keeps gratitude between known people out of matching entirely. A proof-of-personhood layer verifies each participant as a real, single human while hiding identity until mutual reveal. Astrological synastry is offered only as an opt-in, non-gating signal. Revenue is restricted to success-coupled forms (patron support, a voluntary gift at pairing, values-aligned introductions); subscriptions, paid visibility and rationed matches are excluded. Stated limits: collusion rings, the gendered safety asymmetry, users with little legible community, and linkability to the operator.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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