Why do people swipe right on each other, but then never connect? A preliminary new study from researchers at Queen Mary University of London, Sapienza University of Rome, and the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group collected data on just how bad this phenomenon is.

Researchers created 14 decoy Tinder profiles in London — male and female — and automatically liked everybody within a 100-mile radius. Then they waited to see what fraction of people would like them back, and what fraction of those would send a message.

The fake male profiles received little attention. They matched with others around 0.6 percent of the time. The fake female profiles were much more popular — about 10 percent of people liked them back (most of them men).

Men were much less likely to start a conversation with the decoy profiles. Only 7 percent of men who matched with a fake profile sent a message, compared to 21 percent of women who matched with a fake profile. In total though, many more men sent messages since the overwhelming majority of matches came from men.