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Comment by cloudking | Hacker News Reader

Why hasn't this space been disrupted? All of these apps are the same scam-like experience filled with dark pattern UX. They purposely limit communication & exposure behind paywalls, while allowing bots to roam free. Also most of them are owned by the same company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_Group

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I'm starting to feel like it might make more sense to model these sites not as matchmaking services, but as unregulated online casinos where the jackpot is sex instead of money. The odds are heavily stacked against the average customer, but you have to make them believe they can win if you want them to keep pulling the lever.

I fully agree here from male perspective with difference that online casinos give "begginer's luck" wildcard initially. Dating apps attempt somehow similar but if you make a mistake with your profile or in chat after match, you're a failure.

It’s not “gambling,” you either succeed at seeming attractive or not based on what you put in your profile. It’s not the apps fault if you get no matches. Attractive people (both men and women) have an endless supply of potential interested dates. As a nerdy, bald, middle aged single dad I was able to find many more attractive women to date on Tinder then I had time for, but did 3-4 dates a week when I was single, with about 95 percent of the women coming home with me after the date, and inviting me on a second date. When these threads come up on here every few months, sometimes I’ve explained to guys complaining about no matches what women are actually looking for, and what they can do about it, but get downvoted by angry people that feel they should be entitled to interest from the opposite sex, when they offered nothing interesting in return.

It's a very hard market to get into these days when you don't already have millions of users. The problem is, if someone signs up for your app and there are only a few other people using the app in the same area, it's not very useful and they'll quickly uninstall it. So how do you launch a new dating app that already has millions of users? You need to have an existing app/service which already has millions of users that can segue into a dating app. Such as when Facebook launched their dating feature...

Yep. If you try looking at new dating apps, the main complaint from users as they leave negative reviews is this: "I couldn't find anyone in my area. There were 3 profiles in my area and that was it."

I think that's why a lot of dating apps start out as regional, often niche focus, and slowly expand out. They know that they'll be review bombed with negative reviews like the above if they try to do a national/worldwide launch.

What is someone going to do, build an app that does exactly what these apps are not doing so that they make no money and go out of business?

Maybe it should be a non-profit endeavor, where the actual profit is a society of happy, lasting relationships.

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