I truly cannot think of anything else that could have got me banned,” says Maiya, 28. “I believe it was men who were upset that I didn’t respond either fast enough or after they had sent me messages I didn’t want to reply to. I reached out to several women online who had experienced similar issues.

Is revenge-reporting their new tactic? Had someone reported me because I hadn’t replied or “moved things forward in a way that they wanted”? It made my skin crawl, and reminded me of the online incel culture whereby ‘involuntarily celibate’ men plot punishments for women who won’t sleep with them. I couldn’t stop thinking about one Reddit thread in which the commenter (a man, I established) advised a fellow user to simply report a girl “any time they are a c*** to you… The moment you receive a text that isn’t moving things forward in a way you want, just report… When I report regularly, I just type ‘gaslighting’ as the reason, and then add ‘made me feel uncomfortable’ (the catch-all that can’t be proven).” For a while, the most thought I gave it was when rolling it out as an anecdote to my friends. Out of concern, curiosity and confusion, I submitted an appeal – I wanted an explanation, if not a solution. Online dating sites and apps also go into detail about what they won’t allow, for example, nudity/sexual content, harassment, threats of violence, hate speech, spam, promotion, solicitation, prostitution, scamming or impersonation.Īfter reading that, I worried I’d been hacked or impersonated somehow. If you choose not to be, you may not last.” Tinder and other popular dating apps echo the same guidelines, stating: “If you’re honest, kind and respectful to others, you’ll always be welcome. Hinge only asks that you only become a member if you are genuinely looking for a relationship, you’re kind to others and you are authentic. “I bet someone reported you because you binned them off,” she replied.Īt first, I combed over the small print to make sure I hadn’t broken any of the community guidelines. I laughed and sent a screenshot to the aforementioned friend, who I was planning on holding personally responsible for the next dating disaster.

I’d received a lifetime ban, and couldn’t even log in.

This time, however, there was no invitation to upload pictures or answer the toe-curling conversational prompts.

Hinge dating app