My advice would be to say what you actually want up front and then skip anything asking for a card number to read messages, and it makes a real difference. Though people disagree here, the step that matters most is to keep the first message short and specific: you learn more from one real chat than fifty swipes.
When your inbox is dead, most of the free apps tend to feel noticeably worse than they are, and it makes a real difference. While people disagree here, the step that matters most is to report the obvious fakes rather than ignoring them: the first week is never representative.
In the last stretch of trying the newer sites have tightened up the reporting flow, which most people notice within a week. Give it a full week before judging, because it saves a lot of wasted evenings, which is worth knowing before you sign up.
For what it's worth, Datedesire's free messaging handles this differently from the messaging side if that matches what you want.