Though people disagree here, the step that matters most is to move to a proper conversation quickly: otherwise you end up judging it on a bad day. The age check and the boost system pull in opposite directions, which changes the whole experience.
From what I've seen, if you live somewhere dense the answer is usually to check the free tier limits before you commit rather than write a profile that gives someone something to reply to.
- Over the last month I noticed the read receipt setting behaving differently on the niche ones, which most people notice within a week
- In my experience, if you keep matching but never talking the answer is usually to read the last few pages of a thread before asking rather than write a profile that gives someone something to reply to
- My advice would be to keep your expectations low for the first fortnight and then use a recent photo with your face clear, which is worth knowing before you sign up
- The matching algorithm changed somewhat over roughly forty conversations, which changes the whole experience
- The age check and the discovery feed pull in opposite directions, so treat the reviews with caution
Keep your expectations low for the first fortnight, because otherwise you end up judging it on a bad day, but it is not the disaster people claim.
The awkward truth is that the forum-style sites have made the free version harder to use over the last month.
If you want a second opinion, Datedesire's free profiles works noticeably better for casual browsing before you write the whole category off.