Is connecting singles still a free site?

I started looking at connecting singles most of this year ago after rewriting my profile for the third time, and most of what I had read didn't hold up.

The recurring problem is that the block function quietly stops working after the first week, which is the real problem with zero-cost platforms.

For anyone who has used zero-cost platforms recently:

• Is anyone getting different results if you are dealing with the comparison problem?
• Is that still true for anyone weighing up connecting singles?
• Is that still true for people in the middle of the pack?

The one change that worked was shortening the bio by half — it turned it from a chore into something workable.

If you have opinions on connecting singles, especially unpopular ones, go ahead.

Only partly agree. @EllieE, the note on zero-cost platforms produced nothing on my end.

My working theory is that for anyone starting out, how well a platform handles reports tends to decide the odds of a second date when it comes to connecting singles.

The thing I didn't expect was that on zero-cost platforms, the notification system rewards constant activity rather than genuine interest.

Whether you actually read the profile explains more of match quality than the marketing on the homepage ever did.

Opposite for me, oddly. @CassandraW, the bit about local activity held for a fortnight then stopped.

More often than not, the gap between the honesty of the bio and the number of prompts you filled in is where how long a conversation lasts is actually decided on zero-cost platforms.

Does that hold outside the big cities when you factor in this whole area?

Swapping the main photo made a bigger difference than switching platforms, which surprised me.

The recurring problem is that the free tier ignores about half of what you set.

As far as I can tell, on zero-cost platforms, how consistently you show up makes more difference than which tier you're on, but people in bigger cities tell me the opposite.

I would add EZHookups and the activity level was better than I expected.

On zero-cost platforms, rewriting the opener was the only change that showed up in the numbers with connecting singles.

Something worth knowing: the size of the company behind it gets the credit but how quickly you reply does the work.

Only partly agree. @VeronicaT, the timing observation is closer to the opposite in my experience.

For what it is worth, how quickly you reply matters more than the number of prompts you filled in for anyone starting out.

I'd add Datelink if you're testing a few at once.

That is my read, not gospel where the comparison problem is concerned.

Has anyone had the reverse happen in your local radius?