I have been a match user off and on for around a year now and am in the last month of my subscription. After reading many of the previous posts I must say I have had some success with the site. I dated a gal off of match last year for around 4 months before she confided to me she was looking at leaving the area. Obviously it was not necessary to pursue a relationship. After a few month hiatus I decided to give match another go. I have been on probably a dozen dates over the last 5 months however no sparks flew. Many of the gals I have met are nice people the issues, either not my type in person, physical chemistry was lacking, or the women came across as being plain boring. I am not renewing my membership and this is why.
The ration of men to women is 60% to 40%. I have read a few different articles that backs up this claim. Many women who I have talked with, good looking gals, who used match explain how they are bombarded with 20+ emails daily. I am a good looking guy in great shape with a great income, so I generally contact this set of women because that is all I have ever dated and of course is my preference. The good looking women are busy professionals and do not have time to either look at every profile or read every email when they are receiving 20+ a day. There is also a numbers game. The women I may be emailing could already be talking to 4 or 5 different guys at a time, which I usually am doing with women who bite to my mails, and disregard my email.
In quantifying success of match vs. the real world bars, art openings, networks, activities etc. I have a much better success rate getting a number and going out on a date with the later. I did an experiment by emailing 40 women over a one month period. I read through their profiles thoroughly and responded with a hint of wit and with language that proved I knew what they had said in their profile. I picked women within 20 miles of where I live, had multiple interests (travels experiences, outdoor activities, etc.), similar belief systems, educated, and well rounded good looking women (not necessarily the 10's) on the site. I received around 8 initial responses 20% and wound up going on dates with 3 of them less than 10%. After going through this experiment I have concluded I have a much higher rate of success in getting a number at a bar, art opening, or activity here in LA around 30% success rate as of late as opposed to less than 10%. In my opinion the number one key component to attraction is body language and chemistry. Trying to date through a virtual medium discards this key component limiting success and possibly the reason why I have met more attractive and conducive women in person as opposed to an image on a screen. Finally there is a let down when you meet someone in person where there is no chemistry, though there was through email, because of the lack of non verbal attraction. I often found myself hyped up prior to than dissapointed after dates. I found myself being a serial dater at one point due to multiple dates in a week with the continual let down. To those looking to sign up to match, beware. Try your luck at the supermarket, farmers market, bookstores, art openings, parties or even bars first, a better rate of success and body chemistry is more likely to materialize in these venues.