RANK YOUR EX: Is BeenRanked.com a Brillant or a Horrible Idea?

Imagine meeting a guy on Grindr or at Woody’s and before you go on a single date with him, you are able to check out a Yelp-like profile that compiles reviews of your potential future boyfriend by a series of his exes.

No, this isn’t a scene from a knock-off of the Another Gay Movie franchise but the brainchild of local entrepreneur Jason Beschen, who launched his new website BeenRanked.com as a way to screen potential mates before you even make an OpenTable reservation for a first date dinner.

“We developed BeenRanked on the premise that perception is reality. Our friends, family and exes know us inside-out and have a solid sense of what makes us tick – even if we’d gloss over something or fudge a little on the details,” said Beschen. “It’s human nature not to ‘let it all hang out,’ especially online. But online is where more and more people are meeting and starting relationships, and not being completely honest upfront means a lot of time wasted. So we level the playing field by providing unvarnished feedback at the onset.”

Users are able to use the free website to rate individuals (unfiltered, mind you) on a scale of 1-10 in three categories: long-term dating potential, short-term dating potential, and friendship.  The press for the website describes the process as follows:

“Built around the principle that informed decisions are better decisions, BeenRanked.com is a first-of-its-kind website providing relationship intelligence. The free service helps determine strengths in three key areas – long-term dating potential, short-term dating potential and friendship – by crowd-sourcing opinions from the people who know us best: friends, family and exes. (Especially exes!) These rankings provide honest, unfiltered feedback in a day and age when social media is the top activity on the Internet – and we all know it’s human nature to fudge a little when we write our own profiles. So now you don’t need to repeat past mistakes and waste time with someone who ultimately is not looking for the same things you are.”

The launch of the site coincides with a social media campaign asking individuals to tell all about their favorite dating bloopers that, in theory, could have been prevented by using BeenRanked.com.  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram users are encouraged to share their stories using the hashtag #WishIHadKnown (boy, could I ever post a few of those…).

So, what do you think?  Would you use this kind of service?  Would you be scared of what others would post about you?  Let us know in the “Comments” section below.