Why HoopFrog does not use fake profiles, bots, or AI conversations and why real humans verify our guest profiles

At HoopFrog, we keep things simple and honest. We do not use fake profiles, bots, or scripted AI conversations to make the site look busier. We also do not rely on AI alone to verify people. Instead, we pair smart automation with real human review. Why? Because real connections deserve real people.

Fake profiles and bot conversations hurt people

When someone believes they are talking to a real person, the feelings are real. Fake accounts manufacture emotion, hope, and trust, then vanish when the charade is exposed. That leaves people feeling used, embarrassed, and sometimes worse. We have been there; it hurts. We will not use someone’s feelings as a metric to boost retention or revenue.

Human verification cuts risks machines miss

Automation is useful. It flags obvious scams, repeated links to payment sites, and other suspicious signals quickly. But algorithms cannot reliably judge intent, context, or emotional manipulation. That is where humans come in. Our reviewers check profiles for completeness and plausibility, verify photos for obscene or pornographic content, and remove profiles that use hate speech or profanity. If automation flags a profile, a real person reviews it and makes the final call.

How our approach works

1. Guests sign up and verify an email and mobile number. This reduces throwaway accounts from day one.
2. Automated systems scan new accounts for high-risk patterns.
3. Each new profile goes to a human reviewer. Reviewers follow a checklist: bio completeness, photo quality, presence of banned content, and signs of off-platform solicitation.
4. If needed, a senior reviewer asks for additional verification documents or escalates the case. We aim for most reviews to be completed in under one hour during normal volume.
5. Members get a clear explanation and an appeals path if a profile is rejected.

The trade-offs and why we accept them

Yes, human review slows onboarding and costs more than an AI-only approach. That can make a new platform look smaller in the short term. We prefer that. We would rather grow slowly with real people than pretend to be bigger with fake users. Genuine users stay longer, trust the platform more, and are less likely to be harmed by scams.

A hybrid approach that actually protects people

We use automation to scale detection and surface the riskiest accounts fast. We then use human judgment to decide. This hybrid model gives us the speed we need and the judgment we want. It is not perfect, but it is far safer than relying on bots or pretending bots are people.