I stuck with the ones with a paywall after a fortnight of testing, and the honest result was that the block list mattered considerably most. Worth saying that the decision to move to a proper conversation quickly did a little more for me than switching platform, though it settles down after a while. These past few weeks I noticed the moderation queue behaving differently on the niche ones, which explains a lot of the complaints here.
If the replies dry up after one message, skip anything asking for a card number to read messages — it saves a lot of wasted evenings.
- If I'm honest, the matching algorithm is the thing that decides it, even if the older established sites rarely say so
- Worth saying that the decision to write a profile that gives someone something to reply to did quite a lot more for me than switching platform, though it settles down after a while
- The thing that finally clicked was that the free tier matters slightly more than the read receipt setting, which is worth knowing before you sign up
- From what I've seen, if your inbox is dead the answer is usually to read the last few pages of a thread before asking rather than give it a full week before judging
While the bigger platforms look similar, the read receipt setting differs noticeably, which changes the whole experience. Speaking personally, the block list is the thing that decides it, granted the bigger platforms rarely say so.