The users whom reappear after countless remaining swipes have grown to be contemporary legends that are urban.
Alex Hammerli / The Atlantic
Alex is 27 years old. He lives in or has use of a house by having a massive home and granite countertops. We have seen their face lots of times, constantly aided by the exact same expression—stoic, content, smirking. Positively the same as that of the Mona Lisa, plus horn-rimmed spectacles. Many days, his Tinder profile has six or seven pictures, plus in every one, he reclines from the exact exact same kitchen that is immaculate with one leg crossed gently throughout the other. Their pose is identical; the angle of this picture is identical; the coif of their locks is identical. Just their clothes modification: blue suit, black colored suit, red flannel. Rose blazer, navy V-neck, double-breasted parka connexion coupon. Body and face frozen, he swaps clothing like a paper doll. He could be Alex, he could be 27, he’s in their home, he could be in a good top. He’s Alex, he is 27, he could be in the kitchen area, he could be in a shirt that is nice.
I’ve constantly swiped kept (for “no”) on their profile—no offense, Alex—which should presumably notify Tinder’s algorithm him again that I would not like to see. But I still find Alex on Tinder one or more times four weeks. The newest time we saw him, we learned their profile for a few moments and jumped when I noticed one indication of life: a cookie container shaped such as for instance a French bulldog showing up then vanishing from behind Alex’s elbow that is right.
I’m not the only one. Whenever I asked on Twitter whether other people had seen him, dozens said yes. One girl responded, “I are now living in BOSTON and have now nevertheless seen this guy on visits to New York City. ” And evidently, Alex is certainly not a separated case. Similar figures that are mythological popped up in local dating-app ecosystems nationwide, respawning each time they’re swiped away.
On Reddit, guys frequently complain concerning the bot reports on Tinder that function women that are super-beautiful grow to be “follower frauds” or adverts for adult cam services. But males like Alex aren’t bots. They are genuine people, gaming the machine, becoming—whether they understand it or not—key figures within the mythology of the urban centers’ digital culture. Just like the internet, they truly are confounding and frightening and a little intimate. Like mayors and bodega that is famous, they have been both hyper-local and bigger than life.
In January, Alex’s Tinder popularity relocated off-platform, due to the New comedian that is york–based Moore.
Moore hosts a month-to-month stage that is interactive called Tinder Live, during which a gathering assists her find times by voting on whom she swipes close to. During final month’s reveal, Alex’s profile came up, as well as least a dozen people said they’d seen him before. All of them respected the countertops and, needless to say, the pose. Moore said the show is funny because utilizing apps that are dating “lonely and confusing, ” but with them together is really a bonding experience. Alex, in a real method, proved the idea. (Moore matched about their kitchen area, he offered just terse reactions, therefore the show had to move ahead. With him, however when she tried to ask him)
Once I finally talked with Alex Hammerli, 27, it absolutely was instead of Tinder. It had been through Twitter Messenger, after an associate of the Facebook team run by The Ringer delivered me personally a screenshot of Hammerli bragging that their Tinder profile would definitely find yourself on a billboard in days Square.
In 2014, Hammerli said, he saw a person on Tumblr posing in a penthouse that overlooked Central Park—over and over, the pose that is same changing just their garments. He liked the theory, and began taking pictures and publishing them on Instagram, in order to preserve their “amazing wardrobe” for posterity. He posted them on Tinder when it comes to very first time in very very early 2017, mostly because those had been the pictures he previously of himself. They usually have worked for him, he stated. “A great deal of girls are like, ‘I swiped when it comes to kitchen. ’ Some are like, ‘When am I able to come over and stay placed on that countertop? ’”
Hammerli turns up in Tinder swipers’ feeds as frequently as he does because he deletes the software and reinstalls it every fourteen days or more (except throughout the vacations, because tourists are “awful to connect with”). Though his Tinder bio claims which he lives in ny, their apartment is truly in Jersey City—which describes the kitchen—and their neighbor could be the professional professional professional photographer behind every shot.
I’d heard from females on Twitter, and from a single of my offline buddies, that Alex had been rude within their DMs once they matched on Tinder. Him about this, he said, “I’m very narcissistic when I asked. I possess that. ”
Hammerli works in electronic advertising, though he wouldn’t normally state using what business. He makes use of Tinder solely for casual sex, an undeniable fact he volunteered, along side a reason of their views on long-lasting relationships: “Idiotic in a tradition where we move ahead from shit therefore effortlessly and update iPhones each year. ” Once I asked whether he’s ever held it’s place in love, he responded: “lmao no. ” Monogamy, he stated, is “a fly-over state thing. ”