Pretty sure that is a result of experience not just some miss placed belief
>Men on a dating site will message pretty much everyone
While true, the data was not just placed on messaging. Other data seems to back this result as well.
Men tended to rate women in a normal distribution, but they also mostly messaged women in the uppermost range of attractiveness.
Women tended to rate men more harshly, rating most men below average attractiveness, but they also tended to message those "below average" men regardless of their assessment.
Most women don't use dating apps to find long term partners, at least among my peers and online circles. The common use case is casual hookups, which would certainly place a higher emphasis on physical attributes.
Conversely, I have met/seen many men looking for long term partners on those same sites, which should place a higher emphasis on compatibility.