Seems like it is a trend with many dating apps and sites removing features with each new redesign, like with JDate removing the “language(s) you speak” search  filter.  OkCupid has followed suit and has removed the visitors feature this month from all accounts.  So now no OkCupid members can check out who has visited their profile, whether they are a paid subscriber (A-List) or not.  Interestingly, OkCupid posted the update on their blog by promoting it as a positive change for the OkCupid app and website:

We want to provide our members with the best experience possible. That’s why we’re always working to release innovative features (like our brand-new photo commenting), and improve existing ones. So this week, we removed visitors from all accounts because we realized that doing so makes OkCupid better.

Without the distraction of visitors, you can now focus on the people who like what they see on your profile and really want to get to know you. And when you’re focused on those people, your chances of higher quality connections improves. (via OkCupid blog post, “Why We’re Removing Visitors After a positive beta test, we’ve decided to remove visitors — here’s why”)

As a result of not showing members their profile visitors, members also cannot view a list of profiles they have viewed.  Furthermore, this closes a workaround OkCupid members have used to try to figure out who has liked their profile, without paying for the “A-List” subscription.  The free plans used to show a few of the profile visitors (much like LinkedIn) – but not the full list.  So members who checked frequently, could try to figure out who liked their profile without paying for the A-List feature – a feature that also used to be free for everyone.

OkCupid members not buying company’s reasoning/motive, post complaints

OkCupid members – and even subscribers – posted their complaints on the new change on the OkCupid Facebook page.  Here are some of the top rated comments:

Daniel A.: I rely on the visitors because I not an A-lister so I can’t see who likes me!
August 8 at 12:57pm (36 likes so far)

Martin-Éric R.: Sure enough, the goal probably was to entice a few more people to purchase A-list.
August 8 at 12:59pm (15 likes so far)

           Mike J.: OkCupid Despite your garbage beta test, a view is a sign of interest. Mild interest I agree, but interest nonetheless. I have been on and off your site almost since it started, I have met some great people, mostly because it used to have a great sense of community.
This latest move just makes each individual user yet more isolated and within a kind of small a bubble – you’re killing the site.

While I’m on a rant:
What’s with the loss of filtering search results by new users?!! I live in a rural part of the UK and 50 miles is a long way on winding roads, especially since you calculate it as a b-line. When you say it’s 50 miles you can double that distance in reality.
Within that ’50’ mile radius I only have a couple of hundred potential matches and I know just about every face on the block.
I’m not interested in the match percentage, I not comparing people who have been on OKC for ages and answered loads of questions, I am looking for the two or three new faces each month, they may have a low match percentage, but they have not had time to answer a significant number of questions so by your own maths have a significant disadvantage.

Actually, on that note, with the exception of bots and scams, I don’t see a lot new users recently. 
August 11 at 3:11pm (7 likes so far)

Kate L.: SO LAME… totally creepy for women. Thank you for making it even more predatorial. I don’t know who the hell you’re testing– maybe bro dudes? or maybe your financial team? Gives me less of a reason to ever long on. I’m more inclined to check out men who i see in my visitor thing. now— no reason to log on. COOL! Let me tell you also- how excruciatingly awful your tinder swipe thing is. GROSS. Maybe you should start listening to women- since you need them so it’s not a sausage fest. ;)

August 10 at 2:09pm

           OkCupid: With visitors gone, invisible browsing is now a free feature. This was something preventing people from connecting, because they didn’t want to appear in the list. If you have a safety concern, please write to support@okcupid.com ATTN Moderation. Thank you for your feedback!

August 10 at 12:10pm

            Kate L.: OkCupid It’s SO bad. WHATEVER–That’s a load of BS. Visitors was one of the only things connecting me to people that i was interested in, nobody is buying your line that it was preventing people from connecting.. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?? nonsense!
Frankly it was one of the last features that i liked.. your doubletake is freaking annoying– it shows me people from out of my area- I cannot even look up user names of people i do want to connect with— NOBODY is drinking your Kool-aid- AND- if you gave a crap about people’s safety- you’d have a way to flag people’s profiles who have NO photos and are predators. I won’t be writing to your damn support. It’s like you are doing everything you can to drive women from wanting to be on the site.

But you know- what do i know- i’ve been using the site for a few years now– and the app and site has steadily been getting worse- every review i read agrees- you guys are tooting your own horn– “Invisible browsing is free??” what crap. LAMESAUCE. but you keep thinking it’s awesome– pry gonna cancel my account- because it’s SO awesome. Pretty soon it’s gonna be more of a sausage party than it already is. #nailinthecoffin
August 10 at 2:09pm

           Gary A.: OkCupid everyone thinks that removing visitors is ridiculous. Bring it back

August 10 at 7:31pm

           Jim N.: OkCupid – Invisible browsing was ALREADY a free feature, before you removed visitor listings… So trying to use that as the excuse for why you removed it shows how lame the excuse is. Being able to browse invisibly, while still being able to see who visited YOU, was the only A-list feature.

August 11 at 3:55am

          Mike J. “This was something preventing people from connecting” Garbage, total garbage. What evidence do you base that on and are you prepared to share that evidence?

In fact the majority of people on your site refused to pay for anonymous browsing, which indicates just how much they cared about being “in the list”.

Many of us even used it as a means of making first contact, if they look back that is possibly an expression of mild interest, if they look back twice then it’s at least worth a message.

Aside from all that Kate L.’s point was well made – you do woman a disservice. The people most likely to not want to not be on “the lists” are stalkers, especially ones that the stalked person might recognise. Rather that make anonymous browsing available to everyone for free you should make it not available at any price.

If you have nothing to hide you don’t mind being on “the lists”, in fact it may well work to your advantage. It certainly has mine.

This is all a rather obvious and thinly disguised attempt to get people to cough up money for people being able to see ‘likes’.
August 12 at 11:25am

           Phillip S.: OkCupid Do not LIE to your user base, do not INSULT THE INTELLIGENCE of your user base.

“With visitors gone, invisible browsing is now a free feature. This was something preventing people from connecting, because they didn’t want to appear in the list.”

1.) “invisible browsing is *now* a free feature”. With this line, you have indirectly claimed that invisible browsing was NOT a free feature when Visitors existed. This is a LIE. Invisible browsing WAS a free feature already available to everyone. Do not LIE.

2.) “This was something preventing people from connecting, because they didn’t want to appear in the list.” With this line, you make the assertion that a connection would be PREVENTED because you appear as a Visitor when you visit someone. BLATANT LIE, because you know for a fact that this is false.

You KNOW that 1 visit = Someone liked your thumbnail enough to view you.
You KNOW that 3+ visits close together = Someone probably likes you because they are navigating your page, going to different areas (questions, etc), and re-loading your page again. This is a strong indication of interest.

You KNOW this. And you KNOW that your USERS know this.

Go ahead, Keep lying to your users and keep talking to them like they’re idiots. Wonderful business strategy! ;)
August 15 at 3:45pm

     Cindy B.: The above comments are so spot on. Without Visitors, Cupid sucks big time now. Will never pay to see stupid “Likes”.

6 hrs

You can read lots and lots of more complaints on OkCupid’s Facebook page.  Some very good points made.

IAC Match Group’s business motives in play?

Some comments touch on the belief that OkCupid has rolled out this visitor feature cancellation to make more money – to entice members to pay to at least view who has liked them.  Another business motive some say is to entice OkCupid users to subscribe to the other dating site owned by the same company, IAC Match Group: Match.com.  Greg Blatt, CEO of IAC suggested in the IAC press release at the time of Match’s $50 million acquisition of OkCupid that match.com is the website with a “broader feature set”:

“We know that many people who start out on advertising-based sites ultimately develop an appetite for the broader feature set and more committed community, which subscription sites like Match.com and Chemistry.com offer, creating a true complimentary relationship between our various business models.  2010 saw record growth both for Match and OkCupid, and we believe coordinating the adjacent business models will help fuel continued growth for both.  This acquisition therefore goes a long way toward our objectives of bringing new people into the online dating world, offering the ability to meet in whatever type of online setting, and at whatever commitment level, our members desire, and facilitating a seamless evolution of the online dating experience without ever having to leave our portfolio of sites.”
(via “IAC’s Match.com Acquires OkCupid“, FEBRUARY 2, 2011)

This OkCupid visitors list feature cancellation does take away from OkCupid’s feature set – on match.com subscribed members can view who has checked out their profile.  And each new OkCupid website / app update is removing more features, as one OkCupid member complained on Facebook of not being able to sort members by who’s new.

You can sort members by their join date and activity date – and lots of other ways – on Friends Match Me for free.  You can also view who’s checking you out on Friends Match Me, just as you can check out who favorited you on Friends Match Me – and it’s all free!  You can also set your viewing/favoriting account activity private through your privacy settings if you would like.  Also free. Friends Match Me is a 100% totally free dating app after all.  Join now at www.friendsmatchme.com, or download our free dating app on Google Play or the App Store – just search for “friendsmatchme”.