5 ms·

What I'm saying is a might as well have dated random people for a year, it would have been the same result. The dating sites sell you on 'matching.' Oh, and if

What I'm saying is a might as well have dated random people for a year, it would have been the same result. The dating sites sell you on 'matching.' Oh, and if you think you're using it for free, think again. They are collecting all kinds of personal information about you

JimboOmega 7y ago
Only OkCupid does; Tinder barely tries and even then it's hidden. For the most part the selling point is that you get introduced to people you wouldn't just meet in your normal social cirlces/events. Apps besides OkCupid have mostly moved to the model where you put in a few basic facts (age/sex, do you drink, etc), upload some pictures, a short (< 500 characters in Tinder) text blob, and off you go swiping. There's no attempt to match you on interests let alone any deeper compatibility metrics. Also on the data collection front, the business model is more based around advertising, and just knowing you're single is all the info they need. They can bombard you with ads for events to go to, clothes to wear, etc. You're the most lucrative market if you're 18-35 and single.
- lnanek2 7y ago
  Actually, they do try to match you on attractiveness. Also how much you swipe. If you swipe to like every profile you get different results.
  - JimboOmega 7y ago
    This is what I meant by "barely". It still makes no effort to actually look for compatibility.
peruvian 7y ago
> What I'm saying is a might as well have dated random people for a year, it would have been the same result. The dating sites sell you on 'matching.' Dating apps sell you on showing you more people you otherwise would never meet. The chemistry and "good match" are left to the two people to figure out via chatting and a date.
- ssully 7y ago
  I think this is the right attitude (and correct description), but not everyone understands this. I have a friend who finally started using dating apps after I've pressured him for years. From my view, he is a decent guy who is reasonably good looking, but had no luck getting dates the "old fashioned way". He hasn't had any serious relationships success (i.e. anything greater then 6 months), but he is actually getting dates now. He still complains about the "quality" of the dates, but I honestly think a dating app can only match you based on so much, and from there you have to take over the work.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    > I have a friend who finally started using dating apps after I've pressured him for years. Dear God why would you do this to someone?
    - jakear 7y ago
      Loneliness sucks, and for some people it can be difficult to try to meet new people in “real-world” social interactions.
      - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
        I'm one of those people, but dating apps only ever made things worse. I can't imagine why anyone would want to use them unless they literally could not live with being alone. Fortunately for me I have decades of experience at that.
        hombre_fatal 7y ago
        > I can't imagine why anyone would want to use them I'll tell you why: Why be content only meeting the subset of women I can meet face-to-face in my free time when I can complement my social life with a dating app that helps me meet more? I can do both. I can only understand your confusion if you have zero success on dating apps and assume nobody else has any success, either. And there are people obviously having success on dating apps.
baddox 7y ago
Don't most people use dating apps to essentially "randomly meet people"? My impression is that the dating app is simply a relatively new "place" to "randomly meet people." It's basically just like any other place to randomly meet people, like church, a hobby, a bar, a party, etc.

JimboOmega 7y ago

Only OkCupid does; Tinder barely tries and even then it's hidden. For the most part the selling point is that you get introduced to people you wouldn't just meet in your normal social cirlces/events. Apps besides OkCupid have mostly moved to the model where you put in a few basic facts (age/sex, do you drink, etc), upload some pictures, a short (< 500 characters in Tinder) text blob, and off you go swiping. There's no attempt to match you on interests let alone any deeper compatibility metrics. Also on the data collection front, the business model is more based around advertising, and just knowing you're single is all the info they need. They can bombard you with ads for events to go to, clothes to wear, etc. You're the most lucrative market if you're 18-35 and single.

lnanek2 7y ago
Actually, they do try to match you on attractiveness. Also how much you swipe. If you swipe to like every profile you get different results.
- JimboOmega 7y ago
  This is what I meant by "barely". It still makes no effort to actually look for compatibility.

peruvian 7y ago

> What I'm saying is a might as well have dated random people for a year, it would have been the same result. The dating sites sell you on 'matching.' Dating apps sell you on showing you more people you otherwise would never meet. The chemistry and "good match" are left to the two people to figure out via chatting and a date.

ssully 7y ago
I think this is the right attitude (and correct description), but not everyone understands this. I have a friend who finally started using dating apps after I've pressured him for years. From my view, he is a decent guy who is reasonably good looking, but had no luck getting dates the "old fashioned way". He hasn't had any serious relationships success (i.e. anything greater then 6 months), but he is actually getting dates now. He still complains about the "quality" of the dates, but I honestly think a dating app can only match you based on so much, and from there you have to take over the work.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  > I have a friend who finally started using dating apps after I've pressured him for years. Dear God why would you do this to someone?
  - jakear 7y ago
    Loneliness sucks, and for some people it can be difficult to try to meet new people in “real-world” social interactions.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
      I'm one of those people, but dating apps only ever made things worse. I can't imagine why anyone would want to use them unless they literally could not live with being alone. Fortunately for me I have decades of experience at that.
      - hombre_fatal 7y ago
        > I can't imagine why anyone would want to use them I'll tell you why: Why be content only meeting the subset of women I can meet face-to-face in my free time when I can complement my social life with a dating app that helps me meet more? I can do both. I can only understand your confusion if you have zero success on dating apps and assume nobody else has any success, either. And there are people obviously having success on dating apps.

baddox 7y ago

Don't most people use dating apps to essentially "randomly meet people"? My impression is that the dating app is simply a relatively new "place" to "randomly meet people." It's basically just like any other place to randomly meet people, like church, a hobby, a bar, a party, etc.