I truly believe that success or lack thereof on OLD platforms is area-dependent. In some cities Tinder is a hookup app, in others its become mainstreamed, I'm sure this is the case with other apps and locations.
Area is a relevant consideration for a lot of things.
When considering cuffing season,
@BillyPilgrim mentioned that he didn't see much of a cuffing season effect when he lived in San Diego due to the fact the winter weather and summer weather are not too much different there. Los Angeles winters are also mild and don't vary too much from summer, so I would think that cuffing would be similar there.
Cuffing season is a bit mild in Dallas. Dallas weather in October is some of the best weather during the entire year. A typical daytime high temperature in Dallas in October is 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit (24-27 Celsius). This is refreshing coming off of the summer months, where 95-104 degrees Fahrenheit (34-40 degrees Celsius) is a common high temperature range.
A lot of 20s-early 40s Dallas women are transplants who grew up in other areas, often areas that are outside of reasonable driving distance. These 20s-early 40s Dallas women can't easily bring home a man to meet their families in areas like Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. These women might cuff for their own purposes during the winter, but a cuffing season boyfriend isn't going to help them much for the family visits in places over 1,000 miles away (1,609+ kilometers). That fact does reduce their motivation to cuff a beta male. Many of these women with families over 1,000 miles away don't have strong ties to the Dallas area and likely don't have good enough local social circles to get a beta just to cuff for 3-5 months.
The story is a little bit different if you are a 20s-early 40s Dallas woman with roots in any of the following areas....
- Austin and its outlying suburbs
- Houston and its outlying suburbs
- San Antonio and its outlying suburbs
- Oklahoma City and its outlying suburbs
- Any smaller Texas town within a 3-4 hour drive of Dallas
- Local Dallas-Fort Worth area roots
These women would be more inclined to cuff because they can bring home betas to the family because the family is within 3-4 hours driving. Some of these women have social circles, some do not. The women from the first 5 bullet points are less likely to have strong social ties in this area, whereas women who grew up in Dallas-Fort Worth typically have stronger social ties in this area and can pull a beta from their social orbit.
In Dallas, very few women who grew up in this area ever use the swipe apps to find dates. They can usually find dates through their social circles since they have strong social ties. At worst, these women will resort to nightlife venues or possibly a co-ed sports league.
The more typical Dallas woman dating online had a nomadic childhood and/or early adulthood before moving to Dallas. She might also have been a regional area woman (Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, or small town Texas). The long distance transplants (1,000+ miles) are also common. The women I just described are also the women that a man is also most likely to randomly approach at either nightlife venues or in standard daygame venues.
During the absolute dead zone of finding new prospects to date (November 15-January 1), women with local Dallas-Fort Worth area roots are the best women to date. Family visits are not going to get in the way of seeing them, unlike the women with regional roots who have to travel to see family or women with roots 1,000+ miles away. Those women don't have as much availability to show up on dates during the first few weeks of a relationship due to holiday obligations. Scheduling with them is a nightmare and not worth doing, so it's better to wait until January 2 when the holiday stuff has died down. I have daygamed outdoors the day before and Fri-Sun after Thanksgiving and gotten dates with some of these women with local roots.