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0 pointspanny5h ago0 comments

Dating apps don't have incentive to match you up. When they do, they lose a customer.

0 comments

Its a little bit of a balance act, they want to match you with someone that's good enough to date a couple times but not enough to date long term.

I think the mathematics work better if they match you with "mostly compatible" people rather than "not compatible at all". Success stories are important because that's how you build recognition.

Now a days though, match group owns all dating apps so they have a monopoly in dating. Whenever a new app comes to market that's "better" (which will be, in its initial stages) they acquire. Users migrate and then they ruin. Rinse and repeat.

They recently acquired sniffies (a gay cruising app) for like 100M. Go figure.

pannyOP5h ago

I've looked into match group before, they're the usual suspects (Blackrock, Vanguard) and practice lawfare. If you don't take their buyout (like how bumble refused) then they try to sue you with software patents which I thought were all basically invalidated in Alice v. CLS Bank. But yeah, they're not a nice group of people who want to match you up. They're in it for money. And the way match group operates makes others reluctant to enter the market, unless they are just looking for a big buyout payday.

bitmasher95h ago

I actually think a Facebook or Instagram might be in the best position to offer dating with the goal of permanent matching.

* Recruit friends to make recommendations mimics classic searching techniques

* Can scope out a more complete bio early in the process, for both AI and Human filtering/matching

* Their long term incentives will be meet if they post cute couple pictures or generate new long term users

deltoidmaximus5h ago

Facebook apparently already has a dating app. I've heard anecdotally it is much better than the match group apps, maybe for older age ranges? I'm married and haven't used dating sites in over 20 years.

In theory the 'knows people you know' thing is a good vetting system for finding people to date though.

aurareturn5h ago

LinkedIn is. But they won't do it.

bitmasher94h ago

Just what we need, Microsoft to suck the joy out of another aspect of our life.

throw3108225h ago

Breeze has a really cool formula in which you pay exclusively for each date. And a date is organised automatically for each match, without any possibility to chat beforehand.

aurareturn5h ago

You still have to match first. So the same swipe left or right but once you match, there is a system that asks when you're free for a date. That's it.

throw3108225h ago

Not exactly, you only have a very limited amount of profiles visible every day. About 4, though maybe it depends on the location. So there is no endless swiping. You also cannot match anyone else until you have set up a date with your last match, and if you opt out too many times (again, probably three or four) your account gets blocked.

In any case, you only pay for dates you go to (unless you cancel at the last moment). Their incentive is to send you to as many dates as possible.

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Yoric5h ago

Unless I'm missing something, this sounds awful.

Schiendelman5h ago

When was the last time you went on a date with someone new? I ask because it's likely less awful than the current state.

throw3108225h ago

Why does it? I'm curious. I think it solves most of the issues of the traditional apps. (But yes, I didn't mention a fundamental aspect: they propose you only a very limited amount of profiles each day, no endless swiping: if you don't fancy any of your daily ~4, tough luck, you can come back tomorrow).

harimau7775h ago

How do you verify that they are who the profile says they are without chatting beforehand?

throw3108225h ago

You don't. You go to the date (in a public place, set by the app) and if there's something fishy about them you can report them to the app (there's an explicit feedback request after each date).

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jerojero5h ago

Its a little bit of a balance act, they want to match you with someone that's good enough to date a couple times but not enough to date long term.

I think the mathematics work better if they match you with "mostly compatible" people rather than "not compatible at all". Success stories are important because that's how you build recognition.

They recently acquired sniffies (a gay cruising app) for like 100M. Go figure.

pannyOP5h ago

bitmasher95h ago

I actually think a Facebook or Instagram might be in the best position to offer dating with the goal of permanent matching.

* Recruit friends to make recommendations mimics classic searching techniques

* Can scope out a more complete bio early in the process, for both AI and Human filtering/matching

* Their long term incentives will be meet if they post cute couple pictures or generate new long term users

deltoidmaximus5h ago

In theory the 'knows people you know' thing is a good vetting system for finding people to date though.

aurareturn5h ago

LinkedIn is. But they won't do it.

bitmasher94h ago

Just what we need, Microsoft to suck the joy out of another aspect of our life.

throw3108225h ago

Breeze has a really cool formula in which you pay exclusively for each date. And a date is organised automatically for each match, without any possibility to chat beforehand.

aurareturn5h ago

You still have to match first. So the same swipe left or right but once you match, there is a system that asks when you're free for a date. That's it.

throw3108225h ago

In any case, you only pay for dates you go to (unless you cancel at the last moment). Their incentive is to send you to as many dates as possible.

1 more reply

Yoric5h ago

Unless I'm missing something, this sounds awful.

Schiendelman5h ago

When was the last time you went on a date with someone new? I ask because it's likely less awful than the current state.

throw3108225h ago

harimau7775h ago

How do you verify that they are who the profile says they are without chatting beforehand?

throw3108225h ago

You don't. You go to the date (in a public place, set by the app) and if there's something fishy about them you can report them to the app (there's an explicit feedback request after each date).

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse