"I don't know if it's something we cancontrol," Baker says. "It is the reason we limit[the people you can list] to seven."

DateSite's other fluke is when people send amessage to more than just a little crush. Someusers seem to want a whole lot of love goin' on.Pho-Ho Open, a mailing list for residents ofPhorzheimer House, was the lucky recipient of the"Somebody likes you..." e-mail message lastSunday.

The site's creators are trying to ensure thatpeople, or groups, are not alienated by the e-mailmessages.

"Whenever we get a complaint we put the e-mailaddress on a list so it can't receive e-mail [fromDateSite] and there is also the disclaimer at thebottom of the e-mail," Barker says.

Their success rate speaks for itself. As ofMonday, 175 couples had matched through the site.According to Baker, some have gone beyond thematch.

"We might add something to the page so thatpeople can e-mail us their success stories," Bakersays.

DateSite Love

One of the first couples to make the loveconnection through DateSite.com matched up withinhours of the site's inception. Katherine R. O'Neil'01, who is good friends with the Winthropsophomores, says she typed in a list of possibledates one night and received a confirmation of amatch the next morning.

"I got the anonymous e-mail," says Paul A.Stephano '99, O'Neil's match. "At first I thought,'This is kind of childish,' but eventually Icouldn't resist."

Stephano says he thought over the possibilitiesand decided there was only one person who couldhave sent the message. He put O'Neil's name intothe blank list and pushed the "Update!" button.

"Bam! It was a match," he says.

Stephano says the planning that went into hisdate with O'Neil added a fun twist to anordinarily stressful experience. It helped to knowO'Neil was enthusiastic as well.

"You have to strategize a little bit. It hasthe feel of a game as opposed to just going up tosomeone and asking them out," Stephano says.

When O'Neil saw the match e-mail message in herbox she says she was excited and nervous at thesame time.

"It was a surprise. I knew all of the people Ihad put down," she says. "I was like, `Oh myGod!'"