The creators of OkCupid, which published those surprising survey results about Austin singles back in August, today unveiled a new website called CrazyBlindDate.com. The idea's pretty straightforward: match up people, given a basic set of requirements, who are looking for a quick date — tonight, tomorrow night, or sometime in the near future. When two compatible matches are made, send 'em both text messages, and tell them where they can meet up.

Over a brief phone chat earlier this week, OkCupid founder and CEO Sam Yagan explained that the impetus for this new project stemmed from two big shortcomings of traditional online dating services.

First, these sites have a responsibility that ends once they connect two people; after the initial introduction, it's up to the couple to take the relationship into the real world. Social networking sites, on the other hand, have been increasingly making the effort to bridge that online-offline divide.

More importantly, while a dating site works if you're willing to do the research and learn about someone, what if you're simply jonesing to meet someone tonight? It's a bit creepy getting propositioned by a stranger on match.com to hang out right this very instant (because that's not what the service is meant for), but admit it: sometimes you have those random Tuesday nights when you might be perfectly happy knocking back a few rounds with Mister 6'3" 18-to-79-year-old White/Asian/Black/Hispanic Full-Figured Agnostic Non-Smoker. With a high school diploma.

Admittedly, we think the idea's pretty wacky, and so do its creators — which is why they've decided to try it out exclusively in Austin.

"We spent a lot of time deliberating over where to launch," said Yagan. "We wanted a city with a sense of style that would provide valuable feedback. We wanted residents who were
young, web-savvy, and open-minded enough to embrace a site that's, well, just a little bit crazy.

"In the end, it turned out to be a no-brainer. We surveyed the 4,000 OkCupid.com users in Austin and 89% reported that they would be interested in a site that set them up on blind dates — the most receptive city of any that we surveyed."

Going through the setup process in their demo system turned out to be fairly straightforward. Enter a date and time, neighborhood (South Congress, Hyde Park, UT, etc), a bit about the type of person you're looking for, and a bit about yourself. If there's a match, they'll send you a text message with your potential date's relevant info, and you'll need to confirm that you're still interested. After that, it's up to you to show up at the rendezvous spot and pray that he or she doesn't engage in any exuberant nosepicking.

Over the phone, Yagan seemed confident that this new service would prove successful. "It shatters the mold of what has been tried," he promised.

And who knows — it's crazy enough that it just might work.

[CrazyBlindDate.com]