Here's a mirror of the old, old OKCupid blogpost against paid dating apps, some dynamic bits didn't get properly archived but the info is still there, giving a very strong argument that paid dating apps are by definition bad to find a partner. Then they got bought and the blogpost was deleted literally the next day.

And this is long, LONG before everything started enshittifying, and dating apps went all in on this. By now the odds are very much against you if you wanna find someone on those apps.

Honestly my biggest problem is:

• I don't drink
• I don't go to church / I'm not religious
• I work from home
• Video games and hiking are my two major "for fun" time expenditures
• I've seen too many women complain about dudes approaching them
• I hung out in a local coffee shop and met a couple of people, but no women (half the time if there were any there they seemed either much younger or much older ... the other half of the time they'd show up and never come back so a cold approach was the only option)

... what the hell am I supposed to do other than use these apps society?

I can't speak to women's experiences, but as a man, it was pretty clear that these apps were dogshit designed to steal information while keeping you engaged with bots so they can further steal from you, including financially. Much like Facebook, I was an early rejector of dating apps, and I've been proven correct on both fronts. From what I can tell, the tech has only gotten better at taking advantage of lonely/stupid men. While dating isn't really a concern for me anymore, when I was actively dating, it was never difficult to meet women. It just requires a willingness to be open and accept rejection. Also, be willing to cut off interaction for relationships that aren't healthy. It's better to be alone than in a shitty relationship.

I have been on and off dating apps for over 10 years. I witnessed what they did to them.

Enshittification to the maximum. Sites literally REMOVED useful functions and put others behind paywalls. You used to be able to set tags of interests and search by tags as well to find people into the same things as you, but that stops you from swipe swipe swipe swipe swipe... Swipe swipe is time spent on the app which increases the chance you start feeling desperate and pay them for the increased functionality of... Seeing who likes you... Other sites used to let you actually browse who was near you, not swipe, but have a list of people to look through. That's not swipe swipe swipe pulling the dopamine lever so gotta give it the axe.

I mostly blame Match Group. Any dating site that actually worked well was bought by them and stripped down to be tinder 2.0 clones.

The more difficult it is to use the more likely they are to get you feeling desperate which is how they get you to pay up. No thanks.

Is it because they're enshittified af?

OkCupid.com (founded 2004) asked users a wide range of multiple-choice questions. It then went further by also asking them to specify the responses to those same questions they wanted to see from prospective partners.

I met both my ex-wives on OkCupid ... in 2004. Of course, I had no idea I met my second wife before getting serious with the first.

I put scores of hours in answering match questions, and the whole experience was, dare I say, fun. Longform profiles with candid photos and the ability to see how answers differed so you could get the dealbreakers out of the way before wasting any time messaging.

Oh, and it was completely free.

I tried a few apps after getting separated in 2016, but the experience was truly a nightmare. I'm not a terrible-looking guy, but my looks are not what has ever drawn anyone to me, it's how I comport myself. This is completely useless on these apps. It felt like high school popularity contests, which I was happy enough to escape the first time, except that to participate in any meaningful way, you have to pay.

I did find one use for them, and that was getting drunk with my girlfriend (who I met at work) and mocking profiles.

Is it bc I’ve been married for fifteen years?

I don't agree with ai being useful in narrowing down matches, but I will admit putting access to matches and dms behind a pay wall is beyond bullshit

Humanity did fine for thousands of years without these dumb apps .... I think we'd be fine without them