Mr. Siegel got his first high-profile test during the U.S. track and field trials in late June when Jeneba Tarmoh finished third in the 100-meter sprint but was later declared in a dead heat with Allyson Felix.
Blogger John Hempton, of Bronte Capital, set up a fake profile on girlsdateforfree.com that he deliberately made as unattractive as possible to test what kind of reaction he would receive.
It also gave users seven days to test the feature before it went live on the site, allowing them to erase parts of their profile or tweak privacy settings.