And yet, they're designed to keep you trying as long as possible.

yup was going to say, greatest problem with design of dating apps. Working is a failure. Not giving hope is also a failure, so the sweet spot of capitalism for them is basically to run like a casino... set up as many people into a game you know they won't win, with just a sliver of false hope to make them think they can win.... while knowing that most won't.

Sucks, but I did spend close to a year on the various platforms till I found someone.

I made accounts on dating apps to find semi-casual FWBs, who inevitably wind up in monogamous relationships and thus need to be replaced.

The better business model is that the user succeeds and word of mouth brings you more customers than to rivals where people don't succeed.

unless you're poly :3

Roughly how okcupid worked before they got bought and enshittified

Sure! Of course!
But, the fact that some have sucess with them, doesn't mean that they're optimized for sucess.

Ninja Warrior obstacle courses are designed to be difficult, but with a combination of luck and skill, some are able to make it through. Enough to make all the others believe they might also.

I was lucky enough to find my match on Tinder before it went down that road.

In my country there is or was a dating website that for some time advertised with the slogan that they lose customers every day – in pairs.

I agree and its annoying that we have to uwe multiple services even if they are all owned by a few companies.

Only applies if they are not owned by the same company. Or a handful of companies.

We've moved past the point where they can get new customers that previously didn't or will use dating apps. They know we don't have other choices, they know everyone will use it, and they will use multiple apps.