The same Swinburne University researchers had several real-life stories of older people finding success in online dating. Neil, 71, (whose last name wasn’t shared for privacy purposes) told Swinburne researchers that he'd used dating websites for seven years and contacted around 200 women. Of all of them, only a third led to regular communication via phone and email, and then only 33 of the 200 resulted in coffee meetings.
"Out of those coffee meetings, usually only about one out of five developed into a romantic relationship,” he said. “Now, this may sound like rather poor odds, but from my point of view, six or seven romantic relationships over six or seven years at my age is an extremely positive outcome.
“Obviously, one has to be persistent and incredibly optimistic, but from my point of view, I have had seven happy years, made some wonderful and permanent friends, and lost nothing along the way. Where else can I get anything like that except on the internet?"