Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Toby Koonsman

Aired May 10, 2003 - 09:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have been talking to -- earlier in the morning, we were talking to a gentleman from match.com, who's sort of the online bouncer...
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: ... if you will, of the singles bar at match.com. And he suggested that maybe we should write up...

NEVILLE: Oh, yes.

COOPER: ... some little, you know, online personal messages.

NEVILLE: Yes, his name...

COOPER: And he would judge them to see whether or not he thinks they would be acceptable.

NEVILLE: Yes, Toby Koonsman is his name. He's the customer service manager for match.com, and he's on the phone with us now to test our -- I don't know, these little profiles that we came up with on ourselves.

COOPER: Are you there?

NEVILLE: Toby, are you there?

TOBY KOONSMAN, CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER, MATCH.COM (on phone): Yes, I am.

NEVILLE: Well, so...

COOPER: Do you want to start off?

NEVILLE: No, no, you go first.

COOPER: All right. So Toby, This is what I have written out for myself, and I just want to get a sense of whether or not this is the kind of thing that would fly on match.com. "Pale, skinny, gray-haired guy with scrawny chicken legs, bad conversationalist, people averse, enjoys long walks to the fridge, watching TV, and sleeping." Think I'd get any dates?

KOONSMAN: Well, you're probably not going to get as many hits as you probably would like with that type of a profile.

COOPER: Too negative?

KOONSMAN: Kind of negative, yes, it is. Actually, if you were to tell a little bit more about yourself and some of your likes, dislikes, and then...

COOPER: I thought "pale, skinny, gray-haired guy with chicken legs" sort of said a lot.

KOONSMAN: Well, it does, but you're probably not putting yourself in the best light. So you really want to market yourself...

NEVILLE: Yes, but you don't want to lie, though, right, Toby?

KOONSMAN: No, definitely not. But you definitely want to be your own cheering squad, because you're the one that's marketing yourself...

COOPER: All right.

KOONSMAN: ... and putting yourself out to all the people that are able to look at your ad.

COOPER: All right. That makes sense. Arthel, let's see what Arthel's going to have.

NEVILLE: Yes, see, this is mine, Toby. I say, "Spontaneous, neat freak, nutty on caffeine, love to eat sushi, gumbo, popcorn, and hog head -- hog's head cheese."

KOONSMAN: That's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COOPER: Hog's head cheese?

NEVILLE: It's delicious on crackers. Get it extra spicy. I'm from Louisiana, baby, don't laugh at me. Extra spicy.

KOONSMAN: See, that's a good -- that's a very good profile, because it tells about you and what you like and your likes and dislikes.

COOPER: It's going to draw in...

NEVILLE: I think they will run away from this, Toby...

COOPER: Yes, the hog's head cheese...

NEVILLE: ... are you kidding me? Like, if she eats hog's head cheese...

COOPER: Right, it might pass on a fetish Web site. I'm not sure hog's head cheese is really going to be all that big on match.com.

We actually have been getting a lot of e-mails, Toby, just so you know, from various people, and actually a lot of them talking about how they met people, not only on your Web site but online. This person writes in saying, "I actually met my husband on Match five years ago. Great service. One drawback, they don't have a return policy. I keep looking for that button that says, 'Return spouse to sender,' but they just don't have one."

KOONSMAN: No, not as of yet.

COOPER: Well, maybe that's something you might want to develop.

Also actually got an e-mail from someone -- I don't have it in front of me -- but they wanted to know, they had actually been talking to someone on match.com, and they kind of liked the person, or so they thought. And then when the person sent a second photo, it was different, it looked different than their profile picture.

And they were kind of wanting advice from you on, how do you kind of blow someone off that you haven't met the first time?

NEVILLE: Delete, delete, delete. Don't respond.

KOONSMAN: Well, if there is someone that you don't care to speak with any longer, it's best to go ahead and send an e-mail back to them saying, you know, Thanks but no thanks. It's better to do that than just flat-out ignore them, because the person at that point may think their e-mail didn't go through, or maybe you just didn't get it.

So it's best to let them down easy., and just say, you know, Thank you, but I don't believe that we're a match at this time.

NEVILLE: So is it better to put a -- include a picture?

KOONSMAN: Most definitely better to include a picture. You are eight times more likely to get a response from people on the site if you do have a photo.

NEVILLE: OK.

COOPER: Fair enough. Toby Koonsman with match.com. Appreciate you joining us.

NEVILLE: Lots of fun.

COOPER: Thanks for the -- thanks very much.

KOONSMAN: Thank you very much.

NEVILLE: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 10, 2003 - 09:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have been talking to -- earlier in the morning, we were talking to a gentleman from match.com, who's sort of the online bouncer...
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: ... if you will, of the singles bar at match.com. And he suggested that maybe we should write up...

NEVILLE: Oh, yes.

COOPER: ... some little, you know, online personal messages.

NEVILLE: Yes, his name...

COOPER: And he would judge them to see whether or not he thinks they would be acceptable.

NEVILLE: Yes, Toby Koonsman is his name. He's the customer service manager for match.com, and he's on the phone with us now to test our -- I don't know, these little profiles that we came up with on ourselves.

COOPER: Are you there?

NEVILLE: Toby, are you there?

TOBY KOONSMAN, CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER, MATCH.COM (on phone): Yes, I am.

NEVILLE: Well, so...

COOPER: Do you want to start off?

NEVILLE: No, no, you go first.

COOPER: All right. So Toby, This is what I have written out for myself, and I just want to get a sense of whether or not this is the kind of thing that would fly on match.com. "Pale, skinny, gray-haired guy with scrawny chicken legs, bad conversationalist, people averse, enjoys long walks to the fridge, watching TV, and sleeping." Think I'd get any dates?

KOONSMAN: Well, you're probably not going to get as many hits as you probably would like with that type of a profile.

COOPER: Too negative?

KOONSMAN: Kind of negative, yes, it is. Actually, if you were to tell a little bit more about yourself and some of your likes, dislikes, and then...

COOPER: I thought "pale, skinny, gray-haired guy with chicken legs" sort of said a lot.

KOONSMAN: Well, it does, but you're probably not putting yourself in the best light. So you really want to market yourself...

NEVILLE: Yes, but you don't want to lie, though, right, Toby?

KOONSMAN: No, definitely not. But you definitely want to be your own cheering squad, because you're the one that's marketing yourself...

COOPER: All right.

KOONSMAN: ... and putting yourself out to all the people that are able to look at your ad.

COOPER: All right. That makes sense. Arthel, let's see what Arthel's going to have.

NEVILLE: Yes, see, this is mine, Toby. I say, "Spontaneous, neat freak, nutty on caffeine, love to eat sushi, gumbo, popcorn, and hog head -- hog's head cheese."

KOONSMAN: That's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COOPER: Hog's head cheese?

NEVILLE: It's delicious on crackers. Get it extra spicy. I'm from Louisiana, baby, don't laugh at me. Extra spicy.

KOONSMAN: See, that's a good -- that's a very good profile, because it tells about you and what you like and your likes and dislikes.

COOPER: It's going to draw in...

NEVILLE: I think they will run away from this, Toby...

COOPER: Yes, the hog's head cheese...

NEVILLE: ... are you kidding me? Like, if she eats hog's head cheese...

COOPER: Right, it might pass on a fetish Web site. I'm not sure hog's head cheese is really going to be all that big on match.com.

We actually have been getting a lot of e-mails, Toby, just so you know, from various people, and actually a lot of them talking about how they met people, not only on your Web site but online. This person writes in saying, "I actually met my husband on Match five years ago. Great service. One drawback, they don't have a return policy. I keep looking for that button that says, 'Return spouse to sender,' but they just don't have one."

KOONSMAN: No, not as of yet.

COOPER: Well, maybe that's something you might want to develop.

Also actually got an e-mail from someone -- I don't have it in front of me -- but they wanted to know, they had actually been talking to someone on match.com, and they kind of liked the person, or so they thought. And then when the person sent a second photo, it was different, it looked different than their profile picture.

And they were kind of wanting advice from you on, how do you kind of blow someone off that you haven't met the first time?

NEVILLE: Delete, delete, delete. Don't respond.

KOONSMAN: Well, if there is someone that you don't care to speak with any longer, it's best to go ahead and send an e-mail back to them saying, you know, Thanks but no thanks. It's better to do that than just flat-out ignore them, because the person at that point may think their e-mail didn't go through, or maybe you just didn't get it.

So it's best to let them down easy., and just say, you know, Thank you, but I don't believe that we're a match at this time.

NEVILLE: So is it better to put a -- include a picture?

KOONSMAN: Most definitely better to include a picture. You are eight times more likely to get a response from people on the site if you do have a photo.

NEVILLE: OK.

COOPER: Fair enough. Toby Koonsman with match.com. Appreciate you joining us.

NEVILLE: Lots of fun.

COOPER: Thanks for the -- thanks very much.

KOONSMAN: Thank you very much.

NEVILLE: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com