It’s so obviously designed primarily to get you to spend money on it, not to help you meet people. Some people have liked me, but despite daily swiping, I have no matches. It’s clearly hiding them to get me to pay. On top of that, I had to verify my profile several times as well because I kept getting locked out of my account. It also deleted my bio because it thought I was sharing a social media handle (because how dare you chat to somebody outside of Tinder).

And before anyone calls me a fool for continuing to use it, I’m deleting my account right now lol.

When it comes to dating, nothing tops just going out and meeting people face to face without predatory apps acting as a “middleman”.

  • Perky ( Perky@fedia.io ) 
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    27 days ago

    All of the dating apps have been bought out by Match Group and all enshittified in the exact same ways. It’s essentially just one app with different wrappers, and they all cost $40/month for the “premium” mode that maybe makes them usable. (I say maybe because I’ve never ponied up the money.)

    • tal ( tal@lemmy.today ) 
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      27 days ago

      All of the dating apps have been bought out by Match Group and all enshittified in the exact same ways.

      I do wonder if that’d open the door to competition, if they become sufficiently undesirable. Unless they’ve got some way of getting an edge over any competitors.

      considers

      So, dating match systems are going to be subject to network effect. Their value is something like the square of the size of their userbase. That’ll create a barrier to entry for any challengers. But…I don’t know if the effect is as strong as with many other systems.

      • I’d assume that many users are going to be looking principally for matches in their geographical area. That’s going to be a smaller pool than with, say, a global system like Facebook. The value isn’t O(n²) for the entire userbase of the system, but the value to any given user is something like the squares of their particular dating market.

      • It sounds like the userbase is not massive, not compared to most forms of social media.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_Group

        In August 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Match Group reported growing profit and revenue and surpassed 10 million subscribers across its portfolio.[48]

      • Unlike, something like say, eBay, the “product” can be offered for sale on multiple systems. If I want to auction something, I can’t offer it to two different pools of bidders, since two people could both win the single item. With a dating system, a user isn’t forced to exclusively use a single system to bill themselves; they could use multiple concurrently, which means that they could use both an incumbent system and a challenger system. Again, makes it easier for a challenger system to get someone to use it.

      • If you assume that most people are only looking for matches in their age cohort, that’d also divide up the userbase. In the past, social media systems have occasionally seen younger generations shift to newer systems.

    • M137 ( M137@lemmy.today ) 
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      26 days ago

      It’s not all, but the most known and general ones. I’ve had a great experience with dating apps for specific lifestyles and interest. I highly recommend that, try to find something that’s as specific as you can find and it’ll be a good time.

  • Mycatiskai ( Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca ) 
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    27 days ago

    Dog parks work well for meeting people if you have a dog.

    I met many friends at the dog park. I also met my partner of nearly 10 years at the dog park.

    It doesn’t work well if you don’t have time or money for a dog but if you do it shows how well you can take care of another being and have love in your life.

  • Jeena ( jeena@piefed.jeena.net ) 
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    27 days ago

    It is probably like you say, but for all it’s worth, when I went to a business trip to South Korea 5 years ago I installed the app because I thought my work colleague will probably constantly hook up with girls and I will be the third wheel. I thought I could try out tinder because it also was the only international dating app I knew, and for some reason I even decided to pay, because the trip was only for 3 months and that would be a limited trail for me and I would stop it when I’d be back.

    Turns out I very quickly matched with a local woman and the other guy ended up being the third wheel. Today we’re married and have two children.

    I’m not trying to make advertisement for this specific company, just for sometimes doing something out of your character to shake things up if what you’ve been doing for a long time doesn’t seem to work.

  • PenguinCoder ( Penguincoder@beehaw.org ) 
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    27 days ago

    Tinder and match apps prey on the lonely and desperate. They have no interest in matching you or getting you off the platform. This is not a dig at you, just the modus operandi of such apps. I was in for a while too, but left because of the constant rejection and zero communication. You’re much bettr off in meat space. As a divorced dad of two and a cancer diagnosis, ain’t no hope of me competing with those Ryan Gosling types for ladies attention.

    • Anchorxiety ( Anchorxiety@reddthat.com ) OP
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      27 days ago

      Thankfully I’m not lonely or desperate, I just wanted to see what it’s all about and if it was actually useful. Don’t worry, no offence taken.

      Being a man on dating apps certainly makes it feel like the population of men is vastly higher than the population of women lol! I swiped right on a lot of gorgeous girls but I’m probably just one in the huge pile of other dudes who have done the same.

      I wish you all the best for your health my friend.

  • None of these apps seem to work without google play services. I’m on de-googled lineage os with micro g, but I found Tinder can be used in the browser, so I gave it a try for a few months. Got about 1 match a week, and the majority of those were >1000 miles away.

    My hobbies get me out enough. Might meet someone eventually.

  • NuanceDemon ( NuanceDemon@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 
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    27 days ago

    Tbf the social media handle thing was to stop the girls just using it to get follows on their Instagram without engaging, it was a valid change imo.

    You can still share it in the chats.

    They are commodified attraction though for sure, but im sleeping next to someone I met on there a few years ago so they’re not all bad.

  • I’m surprised nobody has made a non-shitty version just for the love of the game. It can’t be that difficult. It would be objectively better if there were no algorithm whatsoever, so you don’t have to even do that part.

  • AskewLord ( AskewLord@piefed.social ) 
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    27 days ago

    it’s a lot different if you’re attractive.

    i get regular matches on most every dating app. and i have never paid for it. last time I turned off my Hinge I had over 100+ matches over about 9 months.\

    that said, i only went on about 6 in person dates, because the vast majority of women who are interested in me are not compatible with me and i’m not looking for casual relationships.

          • AskewLord ( AskewLord@piefed.social ) 
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            26 days ago

            if I was that attractive i’d be getting 100s of matches per month.

            I get like 5 a week.

            but I’m sure if you were on it for 9 months and got 0 matches… you’d think it wasn’t possible to get any.

            I know guys more attractive than me, who get way more matches than me. it’s all about how physically and emotionally appealing you are. it’s just that… most men are not either. and if you start telling them why, they lose their minds because they take pride in their unappealing characteristics, like their passion for Linux.