[randomdata]

> And yet the government mostly does what we ask of it.

That's the problem, though. What we ask of a dating app is roughly "Give me access to partners that are 'out of my league'." It might work for some people sometimes, but it's not satisfiable in any meaningful way.

It's like asking the government to "Make me rich" – something we do ask of the government! It does what it can, giving some people the opportunity to become rich sometimes, but it's not meaningfully satisfiable either. And that is where the ideas of corruption and irresponsibility come into play. "He got rich. I didn't. The government must favor him!"

Few want a dating app for "healthy relationships". One only has to step outside in a reasonably populous area to find all kinds of healthy relationship opportunities staring them right in the face. But that's not what people, generally speaking, are looking for.

[whstl]

> What we ask of a dating app is roughly "Give me access to partners that are 'out of my league'."

I don't really believe this is what we ask of apps.

It is however what that the current apps promise us.

If I install one of those apps, I need to swipe a lot of people to see an average woman. If I were single, I would probably be ok with the first 50 that show up if they weren't bots or onlyfans bait.

[randomdata]

Apps only get used if they deliver what people want. Apps promise that because that's what people want. (There are always exceptions)

> I need to swipe a lot of people to see an average woman.

Right. If you were after an average woman (and an average woman was after you, we'll say someone also average), there would be no value proposition in swiping endlessly to find each other. You could both just step outside. There are average people abound.

But the likelihood is that at least one of you, if not both, seek someone who is more than average. A connection isn't being made outside because either one or both parties is saying, implicitly or explicitly, "No thanks."

And fair enough. If you think you can have something that you perceive as being better, why wouldn't you try to go for it? (Exceptions notwithstanding)

[whstl]

But the app doesn't promise women or men. It promises potential contacts. And it delivers. That's why people pay premium, etc.

If you read again what I said, I never said I was looking specifically for an average woman. What I said is that it takes some time to show them.

This changes expectations drastically. It also changes possibility of meeting someone that's "at your league", unless you use the app constantly, apply some strategy (such as swiping "no" to a lot of pretty people), or simply pay.

[randomdata]

> I never said I was looking specifically for an average woman.

Nothing suggested you were...?

> What I said is that it takes some time to show them.

To which I said that's on purpose, because that's not what people want to see. If they did, they'd just go outside. You don't need an app to find average people. The world is teaming with them. It's the quest for someone 'better' that draws people to these apps.