The strategy described in the article is basically to be liberal in what you accept but conservative in what you choose. Stated preferences are what someone wa

The strategy described in the article is basically to be liberal in what you accept but conservative in what you choose. Stated preferences are what someone wants you to think-they-think. They are incredibly misleading. As someone who tends to be both an acquired taste and a revealed preference, dating sites and apps are a waste of time and probably deeply psychologically harmful. Slot machines that pay out in coins are heavily regulated because they are considered socially harmful, but ones that pay out in dates are somehow empowering. If I didn't know better I'd say they were a conspiracy of pet food manufacturers. I actually think that the straight dating pool over about the age of 30 is not large at all, and that the advertising style of the apps hampers any instinctual "stopping problem" sorting, where you really just become addicted to the potential like a slot machine. I'd even argue that fake profiles on dating sites that create opportunity costs against finding a real partner sabotoge individuals reproductive opportunities and will be remembered as being on the wrong side of history.