The problem is they cost a lot more, and still had basically zero guarantee of any success. IIRC they were so expensive most single people would have trouble affording them.
I met my wife on eHarmony back when it was relatively new. I had tried one of the non-computerized matching services at some point and it was like 4x what Match or eHarmony cost and it was a pretty poor service.
I probably tried Match in 2000 for the first time? Had a lot of bad first dates on various sites between 2000-2005. Like 50+ people I never went on a second date with?
Back then tech wasn't cool. You could hit it off with someone and then they'd literally get up and leave when they found out your job.
I also tried speed dating, that was popular for a while. It was like a meetup where you talked to different people for 10 minutes each and then at the end checked off on a paper if you were interested in someone you met and if you matched with someone the organizer sent you each other's contact info.
I ended up trying all this cause when I finished college I moved to a new place. I basically knew no one. And at my first job I was like 23 and there was not a single other person under 30 in the division, it was even hard to find people to hang out with as friends. Working as an engineer was very different for me then.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/speed-dating-online-apps-single...
I highly recommend it to anyone looking and tired of apps.
Even if you don’t like the speed dating format, you end up in a bar filled with people you know are single and looking.
Be careful, males and females are in general attracted to different activities. (I don't know why). If you are a guy trying to meet girls (or vice versa) your first choice is probably bad. If you don't see someone who could be a match right away you are in the wrong activity. (this is before you meet them to learn if they are married or have have compatible personality)
Certain sports qualify. Volunteer groups can qualify. Some hobbies work.
For sports today the rock climbing community is very inclusive and the sport naturally causes people to get to know each other since you can't climb with ropes in most places without pairing up with someone. The whole gym culture of rock climbing didn't really exist yet when I was in my early 20s.
| Yoga pants - chefs kiss
Gross.
Small potatoes in SV!
Average out both sides of the transaction.
I’m not sure, though, that even though the good date being worth potentially hundreds of dollars would lead to most people being willing to spend those hundreds of dollars. When I was a young man, there was a lot of stigma about having met people through personals (the pre-app version of dating apps) or the early years of internet dating. I think probably the '00s was the peak period for social acceptability and quality of matches.
What I quickly realized is that it's still not a great model. The match maker promised the women at least X dates per month, and the benefit was that setting them up with me let them check off that box (I am professional, good looking, not crazy, etc.) but I ended up declining to meet these women, or after a first date. The reason is that as paying customers of the match maker, they were also a bit too far into the "oh shit it's almost too late territory" and wasn't what I was looking for.
I guess the point I am making is that the high paid matchmaker can screen-out the obvious shit for you, but the flip side is you're now "someone who needs a match maker" and that's limiting too.
Coincidentally, I met my wife pretty randomly on a swipe. Had an OK date with her, but decided she was a good woman so I called her back. After our second date I decided to give it a real go, and deleted the apps. Two kids now.