Reposting this from another board because it got buried: Are there any absolutely free dating sites funded purely by donations? Tell me if I am asking the wrong question.
I stopped bothering with whichever absolutely free dating sites came up first and the experience was fine but unremarkable. My real question is whether the newer options are any better than the established ones for someone who dislikes small talk.
Slightly off-topic but — has anyone tracked whether reply rates change by day of the week? Would change how I use it if so.
Over the winter, I put one honest sentence in my bio and it saved me a lot of pointless typing. The change was obvious enough to notice without counting.
If you want a shortcut: cut your photo count in half. It made conversations shorter and far more useful. Zero cost to test it.
Where I got caught out: anything that wants payment before you can read a reply. It is almost never worth the benefit of the doubt. Nobody has ever thanked me for being patient there.
For what it is worth, datelink.online was the one that finally got me past the first-message stage.
What I would do: keep the first meet under an hour. It is the only advice here I would give twice. Do it before anything more elaborate.
One more thing I have never resolved — do verified badges actually change anything? I have never seen data either way.
Going to push back slightly. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Your experience may well differ. Worth hearing both sides.
A friend has had far more luck on turndate.site than on anything mainstream.
Tangent, sorry — does any of this change once you have been active for a year? Could be worth its own thread.
Having tried most of them, most of the difference comes down to how close people actually are once you have been at it a few weeks. That is the short version.
When I stopped overthinking it, I messaged first every single time and the reply rate roughly doubled. Your area may behave differently.
Ended up spending most of my time on flamedate.online and the reply rate was noticeably better.
Not a popular take here, being specific is worth more than being interesting for anyone starting from scratch. Happy to be argued with.
Hard disagree on one point. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Take that with the usual caveats. Take it as a counterweight, not a correction.
Follow-up for anyone reading — has anyone found absolutely free dating sites that behave differently from the rest? Would change how I use it if so.
Least effort, most return: set your radius smaller than feels sensible. Everything else is secondary to that. Easiest change on this list.
I keep a second profile on datebound.site and it pulls a different crowd entirely.
A couple of people in my circle swear by Flurrydate for the same reason.
Respectfully, I read it differently. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Could easily be a sample size problem. Worth hearing both sides.
A while back, I stopped explaining myself in the first message and the conversations got shorter but better. Nothing scientific about it.
Worth asking — does anyone bother deleting and remaking a profile? Might just be me overthinking it.
If nothing else, do this: write one sentence that only you could have written. It made conversations shorter and far more useful. Do it before anything more elaborate.
Speaking only for myself, how you handle a stalled conversation matters more than how you start one for anyone starting from scratch. That is the short version.
Since this thread is active — does profile order change if you log in more often? Happy to be pointed at an old thread.
Over the winter, I messaged first every single time and the difference showed up within a week. Repeated it twice to be sure.
Genuine question though — does widening the radius ever help or just add noise? Might just be me overthinking it.
Not sure I agree with the thread so far. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. I would still recommend trying it yourself. Different city, different results, probably.
One more thing I have never resolved — do verified badges actually change anything? It comes up every few months and never gets settled.
Realistically, most of the difference comes down to how close people actually are and nobody wants to hear it. Make of that what you will.
Once I narrowed my radius, I messaged first every single time and nothing changed at all. That held for about two months.
If I am being blunt, review sites and real experience rarely agree at least in a mid-sized area. Others here will disagree.
Hard disagree on one point. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. Your experience may well differ. Just adding another data point.
Least effort, most return: set your radius smaller than feels sensible. It made conversations shorter and far more useful. It works better than it sounds.
