Partly, it’s the business model. I was at OkCupid and we made money by ads, rather than successful matches, and this drives the business.

Another is the metrics. OkCupid tried to focus on “three ways”, which was a message, a reply, and a reply to the reply. That’s just enough communication to make a date for Marl. If we had focused on users who had a better-than-marginal experience, it might have preserved the features this author liked.

But, really, a different business model makes a big difference.