[m_ram]

My favorite is "Why You Should Never Pay For Online Dating" from 2010-04-07. It was deleted when they were bought by IAC. Thankfully, nothing is ever really deleted from the Internet:

http://www.columbia.edu/~jhb2147/why-you-should-never-pay-fo...

[midas007]

   Perceived
   Value

    ^
    |                                 +
    |+                             +
    |  +                        +
    |    +                    +
    |       +                +
    |          +           +  
    +-------------+------+------------> $earch 
                        +               Cost
                    + 
                     +

Don't get excited, it's just a graph. But there is an asymptote that has been shifting lower as a demographics change and more people delay having children until basically never. Demographics vs. resources. For the majority, there's no longer as much social or familial obligation to continue uniform tradition.

Also, this market space is so crowded with higher-quality free apps, it will only get increasingly brutal.

(Btw, what's it like to be female and dating in China?)