I think the fundamental problem is that the reason people are on most of these dating sites is because they can't find a date elsewhere. Building a good dating

I think the fundamental problem is that the reason people are on most of these dating sites is because they can't find a date elsewhere. Building a good dating site means solving that problem: making dating online more intuitive than flirting in real life. This is hard, because you've got however many billion/million years of evolution working against you. On the other hand, there are some groups for whom physical flirting is already cumbersome. Busy professionals/entrepreneurs (arguably above-average dating material) don't necessarily have time to chat up people at coffee shops. People of a particular faith or with a particular medical condition may be genuinely afraid of simply meeting random people. There has been some success with this sort of 'longtail/niche' dating site.