Has anyone actually used the searching for singles dating site?

Been at this the last couple of months now, after reading far too many roundups, and a couple of things stood out.

The recurring problem is that the account activity indicator ignores about half of what you set, especially once sorting the shortlist comes into it.

My working theory is that the size of the pool within ten miles does more for whether anything reaches a first meeting than the app's star rating for the general run of people, but that is one person with one set of results.

Where I would value another read, particularly for the general run of people:

• Does that change much when sorting the shortlist is the main worry?
• Does that hold outside the big cities outside the area you actually search in?
• Is there a way to check before signing up for the general run of people?
• Has that changed since the last update where sorting the shortlist is concerned?

After first-hand experience with a bit more depth on actually used the searching for singles dating site? — free dating &am, not marketing copy.

Putting one specific interest in the bio changed the kind of people who replied and nothing else came close on apps that do not charge.

On that point, Rendate — free to browse and message, which is the main thing.

Has anyone found the opposite with apps that do not charge?

This is close to my read — @BraxtonC, the bit about local activity deserves more attention than it gets.

In practice, how recently a profile was active explains more of the odds of a second date than the total registered user count ever did for most people.

Adding Turndate to the pile — no paywall on the basics.

Lines up with mine — @SophieR, the bit about local activity deserves more attention than it gets.

Suggesting a meeting inside two weeks got three actual meetings out of six weeks.

Does that hold outside the big cities on apps that don't charge?

For the general run of people, saying plainly what I wasn't after stopped the conversations dying at day two.

In practice, how polished the profile looks gets the credit but the willingness to suggest meeting early does the work where sorting the shortlist is concerned.

Going to be the dissenting voice. @SophieR, the argument about verification reads as survivorship bias to me.

Dropping the filters made the whole thing feel less like admin, which surprised me on apps that don't charge.

My working theory is that when sorting the shortlist is the issue, the willingness to suggest meeting early counts for more than the number of photos you upload.

My sticking point is that the block function turns into a shop window the moment someone matches.