Why do I mostly hear negative stories about social skills?

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I like many older women.

Spot on!

I have noticed, even when positive reviews dominate, there is always one crank who hates everything. A good review would start positively, offer concrete suggestions for improvement and end on a positive note. I have had both perfect experiences and perfect disasters as far as service went, but I was never nasty about it. I have also had experiences in which service was wildly inconsistent in the same organization and I addressed this issue with them.

I agree...Tinder and other dating apps have created a huge supply/demand issue. You'll notice that men tend to swipe "right" at a much higher percentage than woman. Woman naturally have to be selective based on a biological need for survival of their offspring. Exhibiting more options only creates higher standards, which causes them to reciprocate predominately to very attractive men. Also, social media has facilitated a population of validation seekers, which ironically lowers self esteem because the expectation must continually expand to yield positive output (thank you dopamine). If you add the cosmetic industry into the equation, the problem escalates further. By spending countless hours applying makeup to enhance the perception of attraction, the number of options inevitably increase which in turn increases standards. Further, by focusing on your own defects for a longer duration, it would make sense that you could tune in on others defects at a higher frequency.

Now, personality does matter but not in the extend that many proclaim. The way I view it, we have a set of elements of potential mates dictated by our level of subjective attraction on a global scale. The more universally attractive someone is, the more elements would exist within the set. Therefore, attraction is the pre-condition and primary means of attaining success. Personality, however, dictates whether you can maintain the elements within the set. So, if you have an unappealing personality in respect to some elements within the set, then the set will condense based on element quantity. Since autism/aspergers leads to social issues and social value tends to be an important aspect to a potential relationship, it follows that the number of elements will inevitably reduce. The key for someone with autism/ASD is to expand their area of influence/observation. That is, if more paths are encountered in global space, then the probability of matching with a complimentary element is much higher. Therefore, introversion and avoidant behavior can really negatively reduce the possibility for a potential match.

This is going to make some people upset, and I don't know if this works as I imagine, but a better model for me personally may be more like a friends-with-benefits without the personality aspect strings attached, but otherwise is platonic.

Normality is relative to your preconcieved impression of your area of observation. If you live in a emply white room for life's entitety, you'll have a limited frame of reference for such an opinion to develop. If the world lacked uniqueness, then there would exist much less progression. We all have a unique strength to offer that expands the domain of possibilities.

It then follows that the merging of strengths can magnify a positive outcome. Also, a strength coupled with a weakness allows for convergence to occur...meaning the weakness tends toward a potential strength (given sufficient time). For this reason, finding a complimentary partner would help facilitate balance, which can potentiate optimism and rid depressive episodes.

Not everyone gets early intervention and is able to receive services as a result

Not everyone wants and appreciates intervention, either.

I mean is all "intervention" ABA or something??? I thought it was more like counseling sessions where they tell you about how social interaction works

It's kinda hard to have "counseling sessions" with a 2-year-old, especially a 2-year-old who can't talk yet. The only possibilities for "early" intervention, besides ABA, are speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and various kinds of play therapy. In at least some places, perhaps most places, ABA is the only "early intervention" therapy that gets covered by insurance -- or so I've heard.

Could you be a bit more specific about what you mean by "broker efforts to encourage friendships"?

The term "broker efforts to encourage friendships" can appear confusing/misleading. The term "encourage friendships" simplifies.

As I've mentioned here on WP, enlisting people experienced with HFA (that is professional experiences AND/OR personal experiences with HFA) can be beneficial in encouraging friendships. Can (AANE) Autism Asperger NEtwork resource be a potential model for such efforts?