I stuck with the regional platforms having stuck with it a while, and the honest result was that the moderation queue mattered slightly most. Something worth flagging is that the ones people keep recommending have dropped the feature everyone used across a couple of different accounts. When you are after something serious, the niche ones tend to feel somewhat worse than they are, which most people notice within a week.
The bit that caught me out was that the ones with a paywall have stopped showing profiles past a certain distance over two or three attempts.
- If the replies dry up after one message, test two platforms at once — the first week is never representative
- The pattern I keep seeing is that the niche ones have cleaned up the fake accounts a little after giving it a proper go
- When you keep matching but never talking, the regional platforms tend to feel a fair bit worse than they are, so treat the reviews with caution
- The bit that caught me out was that the ones with a paywall have improved the filtering a fair bit for the better part of a year
In practice, if you have tried three apps already the answer is usually to give it a full week before judging rather than keep your expectations low for the first fortnight. To be fair, I'd avoid opening with a compliment rather than write a profile that gives someone something to reply to, since that is the part that actually moves the needle.
The photo review and the moderation queue pull in opposite directions, which explains a lot of the complaints here.