Has online dating and game in general gotten much worse since 2020?

[s74rk]

Before Covid and mandates In 2019 Of winter I was killing it on Hinge and bumble (not like OP tho) but for me getting 2-5 matches a day on both app was awesome

Fast forward I'm luckily to get 2 matches a week on both app, with average women at best

I went on my first *new* date earlier this week which was fun but honestly dating for me has not been a priority since 2020 I've been more focused on crypto and weight loss but yes overall dating has sucked

I think in the future with inflation, lack of recreational income you will see more dating lead to marriage because it will be expensive In other words covid killed casual dating sure it will still be around but I think dating will be more with purpose hopefully for the better

Yeah this is a pretty good summary of how my online activity seems to have changed: what used to be daily results have become weekly results, in terms of matches, messages, etc (pertaining to apps). Once I get 'em in person it's still the same close rate.

I have a very hard time believing that there are 7x more people to compete against, and even harder time believing that as a relatively top guy I've somehow become 7x less attractive or something like that lol (pretty impossible when using the same pics/profile that has always worked so well).

The only explanations are some combination of:
1) Dating app algorithms have changed to throttle specific users and/or move previous results behind more pay walls, (I'm not trying that super-boost...)
2) The female population has diminished significantly and/or moved to other apps I'm not aware, (I think tinder still #1 though? Someone let me know if not)
3) C0vid and other social forces have diminished interest in the casual dating market. (Which if true, one would think might recover by now)

A quick 'field report' - after a slow month on the apps, I matched with and closed on a really cute early 20s girl. Her quality was quite a bit higher than my average over the years, so again this is confirmation that I'm not 'less attractive'. It's just weird how it took so long via the apps to get matches and messages back and forth.

Again, in terms of frequency, we could say for this year I'm much closer to 1 per month rather than 1 per week. Like a half-order-of-magnitude difference.

For whatever reasons the online golden age seems to be behind us!

 

[Jake_Gyllenhaal69]

This might be anecdotal but online dating was much easier before things started opening up last summer. I think liberal women are worse to deal with in general, so I think this is a reason why.

 

[s74rk]

This might be anecdotal but online dating was much easier before things started opening up last summer. I think liberal women are worse to deal with in general, so I think this is a reason why.

So during lockdowns and the 'virus-aware' times, like I said I was dealing with a much lower volume of options, but the close rate and ease of lay was extremely high. Things were closed and people were sneaking around so the vast majority of my lays were very easy ones with chicks coming over right away. Usually closed within 20 minutes, there's very little to do in my apartment lol.

Now with things opening up the expectations are different and it's back to regular game, which is fine, though I must admit I was a bit spoiled with super easy c0vid lays haha.

Liberal women suck but are the norm, and I've always been dealing with them so that's not really a factor for me, unless somehow the virus times amplified everything for them.

I really wish I could get more insights into how these companies changed their algorithms, because it really does seem like night and day a few years ago to today.

 

[Solomon]

Yeah this is a pretty good summary of how my online activity seems to have changed: what used to be daily results have become weekly results, in terms of matches, messages, etc (pertaining to apps). Once I get 'em in person it's still the same close rate.

I have a very hard time believing that there are 7x more people to compete against, and even harder time believing that as a relatively top guy I've somehow become 7x less attractive or something like that lol (pretty impossible when using the same pics/profile that has always worked so well).

The only explanations are some combination of:
1) Dating app algorithms have changed to throttle specific users and/or move previous results behind more pay walls, (I'm not trying that super-boost...)
2) The female population has diminished significantly and/or moved to other apps I'm not aware, (I think tinder still #1 though? Someone let me know if not)
3) C0vid and other social forces have diminished interest in the casual dating market. (Which if true, one would think might recover by now)

A quick 'field report' - after a slow month on the apps, I matched with and closed on a really cute early 20s girl. Her quality was quite a bit higher than my average over the years, so again this is confirmation that I'm not 'less attractive'. It's just weird how it took so long via the apps to get matches and messages back and forth.

Again, in terms of frequency, we could say for this year I'm much closer to 1 per month rather than 1 per week. Like a half-order-of-magnitude difference.

For whatever reasons the online golden age seems to be behind us!

Once my town opened back up, meeting women became easier but a lot of night venues closed
On top of that I'm in my late 30s I don't care to go out like in my 20s.
Sure after the mandates lifted I went out a bunch but now not so much

honestly I think the alogrithims have changed for men it sucks but it is what it is

 

[Zimbabwe]

Liberal women suck but are the norm, and I've always been dealing with them so that's not really a factor for me, unless somehow the virus times amplified everything for them.

Most attractive women are liberal, every conservative country girl I meet tends to be really obese for some weird reason.