Match.com used to be a friend of mine. Let all those whipper snappers (kidding I am not that old) use Tinder or Hinge. I am set on sticking to the classic dating site, Match.com. After getting married and divorced I have enough experience to give a review of Match.com for men. So, is Match.com worth using? Judging from the title, you can predict my opinion. It is a hard NO, to be blunt.
I will get into all the problems I have with this company. Both men and women have complained to me about using this site, but men certainly have a harder time (as with most sites). Yet, it goes beyond the normal issues men have with online dating. They have those problems also, and they too will be mentioned later in this review of Match.com for men.
The cost for Match.com runs anywhere from $20/month to $12/month (if you sign up for a longer stint). The fact that you need that long is a bad sign. Most dating sites have a free version but using that feature on Match.com is utterly useless. Below is my full review of Match.com for Men, and why I believe guys shouldn’t waste their time with this dating site.
Reason 1 why Men shouldn’t use Match.com: Nonsubscribers
This problem is what inspired this post. A couple of weeks ago I was scrolling through my (limited) options on this site. After sorting out single mothers (read why here) and “well fed” women, I get like 500 ladies to choose from. At least 75% of those are people who are using the free version.
For those of you who do not know, with in the free version of Match.com you can’t reply to those who messaged you or even see who those that did. Yes, the subscriber (meaning men on the site) can pay even more money to allow those who don’t have an account to read, but screw that. If you can’t be bothered to pay $12/month, I am not doing it for you.
The result of this was a lot of wasted messaging to people who wouldn’t even see my correspondents. When doing a search, you are given a dishonest account of your options. A large percentage of women are nonsubscribers and can’t see your message, to me this is misleading. There is the impression that one has a lot more choices than there truly are. You might say, well I will pay the extra or perhaps they will join…that is if they are real, which brings me to my next point.
Fake Profiles
No review of Match.com for men would be complete without addressing the elephant in the room. I am not talking about the women who claim to be “curvy”. I am talking about utterly fake profiles. Most of these are nonsubscribers, but many of them are not. Fake profiles on Match.com are easy to spot. More often than not at the top of the feed will be a knock out gorgeous woman, with only one or two pictures.
The bio of this woman will be completely empty, or if you are lucky they choose “beach” to the question of which they prefer, beach or mountains. These profiles last maybe two or three days before magically disappearing. They are clearly fake, the one thing I don’t know is who is creating them?
Is this a scammer trying to take advantage of lonely men or something worse? This article has a different take, saying it is the company that is publishing these unauthentic posts. Consider this, people are paying for their services and they are blatantly defrauding their customers. Given that it is in the best interest of this company to keep you single, what other shady things are they doing?
Match Nickle’s and Dimes You
It is bad enough we are paying for an inferior service that is free on most other places, Match.com then hits you up for more money. I already mentioned the “allow anyone to read” feature. For the low price of $10/month you get all the benefits of what should be included in your normal subscription. Meaning you are confident that women you are reaching out to can correspond back with you. I guess bad on me for thinking that is what I was initially paying for!!
There is also the “Boost” function. For $5 you get your profile front and center (for one hour!). Once again, how about putting me ahead of the free profiles as included in my membership. Also, why not rotate people instead of charging $5/hour to be front and center. It isn’t even the money at this point, it is the principle. I do not need to feel like I am being milked by my dating site. Then of course there are the Match events, where you meet people in an activity set up by the company. These can run up to $100.
Match Events
Given this is a review of Match.com for men, I am compelled to mention Match events. For yet another fee you can end up in an area where you actually meet the people in the flesh. In my life I have gone to four of these and they have gotten progressively worse. The first one I went to was in a bar, this was before my divorce, it was free and very crowded. There was a good mix of men and women, most importantly people were having fun.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago, I attend an event and it was just depressing. Maybe it is that I am now in my 40’s as opposed to my 30’s, but something was off. The bad news was the women were all unattractive. The good news is there weren’t a lot of them. The ratio was about 70-30 men to women. There was no connection, hell even the other guys were boring as hell. I think anyone, both men and women, have a better chance of getting laid in a funeral home then this place (well that might be your thing).
You can’t see who is attending beforehand and the costs are starting to get up there. Most women won’t pay for an event like this, because most do not even bother filling out a bio. So, it is a bunch of sad people making small talk to kill time. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that Thailand exists (read about it here).
The Same Problems as Other Sites
Of course, Match.com shares similar issues as most of the other dating platforms. That would be entitled, flakey women. Women ignore me who I wouldn’t even approach in real life. They think, “forty with four kids, I can be selective, because I am a catch.” Admittedly, I have done to them what they have done to me, IE start talking and ghosting. I just get bored and sick of dating down. I work out, eat right, and make pretty good money, I am not dating someone who has the Twinkie delivery guy on speed dial.
There is also not much to choose from. Modern women are less datable on average, especially in your 40’s. After weeding out the fake profiles, single mom & never married, and the “curvy” ladies, there isn’t much left. I am told there is a 70-30 split between men and women. Those 30 are going for the top 5% of men. Quick math 30 women are going after 3.5 men, leaving 66 guys in the cold. No wonder you see the same faces months and years later still on Match.
Conclusion: A Review of Match.com for Men
I think I made my argument as to why Match.com is a waste of time for men. This is coming from someone who ten years ago found his wife on the site. Times have changed, dating has become more difficult and dating sites are worse. Maybe it is time to hang up your mouse, grow a pair and start approaching women. Take the power away from them and stop funneling money to companies that want to rip us off!