whats the point of dating websites and who thinks they will go away?

I wonder if there's like an anthropologist out there that has written on "simulation culture." Where nothing is real ... "Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy" (Fight Club line) or a representation, a symbol only.

 

I think they’re a great tool, if used correctly.

 

I live out in the middle of nowhere. I tried POF once and there was no one in my area. Real life is my only option.

I heard we're hooking up less than we were in the 90's. Probably because of all the high speed internet porn.

 

As stated, dating websites are a tool, much like a hammer or a spanner are tools. As such, while a tool can be helpful, a tool can also be manipulated and incorrectly used. You wouldn't use a spanner to screw in a screw; in the same way you shouldn't use a dating website to get a PMO source, but unfortunately there are people who do.

 

And for the people running the site, it is a tool to make money. To think they are only there to offer a service in exchange for a price may be a bit naive, it's like thinking social media is only there to help you make friends for free. They sell your social graph to their advertisers. We don't wanna be a tool about it.

 

Yeah we're all very well informed these days, you think everyone who knows that notices all the ways the algorithm manipulates them though? It's like people accept that they use each other, in this case it's like they accept the system uses them like they use the system.

 

I believe it depends on the dating site you use. Plenty of Fish is free so there's really no risk to sticking a profile out there, so that's why you get everyone and their mom out there on it, who use it for a week then quit and their profiles never go away.

I think pay services like Match are better because you and everyone else are putting money on the line to be on there, so you expect a return on investment. To this end most people will pay attention to filling out profiles credibly and answering emails.

One of the things to keep in mind if you're a man on one of these services is that you're in the minority. Women are the majority. The average woman recieves 100s of messages a day from guys. Some of them are well thought out, and some of them are just creepy. In any case its impossible for them to keep up, so they may just go after the first ten and call it quits. It does create a fickle mentality among women who get the most solicitations. (Sometimes this happens with popular guys too).

I met my current girlfriend of two years on Match, so its not impossible. I just made sure I filled out my profile and had few good shots of myself. She mentioned something on her profile about hair bands, (read their profile, so long as you're not asking a lame broad question i.e. 'what do you do for work?', they will always appreciate you remarking on specific something in it) so my opening line was 'what hair band do you think is the hairest?' and we kept talking from there. Just appear casual and confident and don't expect anything to happen and something might happen.

Sometimes after a few days of talking, people just drop out and don't respond. I don't know how to deal with this other than to just keep on with the next person until you get a meeting in person.

 

It also costs a lot of money to keep a giant website up and running, plus there’s probably several employees to pay, etc, etc. If those sites weren’t bringing in any money, they’d go under.

 

Sure. My point is a whole bunch of subtle psychological coercive techniques come into play with the marketing and such, not that it's wrong to do business. The relationships where it's ''free" but in fact sells the attention of unsuspecting users is more of a concern. That's more an issue with social media though I imagine the lines are blurred with some.

 

I believe that Internet dating will Increase by A LOT since today, high speed internet access is more available and society is becoming even more conservative
Add in that people have an increasingly high bar of standards when it comes to relationships