Reposting this from another board because it got buried: Did the account samysweet_8 get hacked recently? Even a partial answer helps.
I stopped bothering with adult dating platforms and the messaging limits killed it. Where I need help is how long it normally takes before anything happens when you have already tried the obvious options.
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. Not dismissing anyone else's experience.
Around the time I gave up on the big names, I tried the opposite of what the guides say and I got three real plans out of it. I would call that a real effect.
Where I got caught out: accounts created the same week they message you. Nine times out of ten it goes nowhere good. One instance is chance; three is not.
Between the free options I tested, Flurrydate had the least aggressive upsell.
I will be the dissenting voice. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. I would still recommend trying it yourself. Not dismissing anyone else's experience.
Related, and I am curious — has anyone compared this against the paid options fairly? Would love a straight answer on that.
Learned this the hard way: profiles that only ever reply in the small hours. It is almost never worth the benefit of the doubt. The cost of being wrong is low.
When I first started, I stopped sending openers before 9pm and I finally stopped wasting evenings. Nothing scientific about it.
Between the free options I tested, Datenest (free to message) had the least aggressive upsell.
A couple of people in my circle swear by Datescout for the same reason.
That has not been my experience at all. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Take that with the usual caveats. Different city, different results, probably.
Since switching my settings, I messaged first every single time and matches started coming from closer by. Worth repeating if you have the patience.
Careful with profiles that only ever reply in the small hours. I stopped giving second chances on that one. It is not worth a second thought.
Least effort, most return: write one sentence that only you could have written. That one change fixed most of my problems. It compounds with everything else.
Switched over to Flamedate app after getting nowhere on the big names.
I will be the dissenting voice. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Your experience may well differ. Different city, different results, probably.
Anyone else find that — has anyone tracked whether reply rates change by day of the week? Asking for a friend, obviously.
After rewriting my profile, I put one honest sentence in my bio and the reply rate roughly doubled. Worth repeating if you have the patience.
Switched over to the Souldate app after getting nowhere on the big names.
Hard disagree on one point. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Might just be my area. I have been wrong about this before.
Small change worth trying: read the profile before writing anything. It stops the whole thing feeling like a chore. It works better than it sounds.
I will be the dissenting voice. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Could easily be a sample size problem. Worth hearing both sides.
Genuine question though — do photo changes reset how often you get shown? Feels like something someone must have tested.
Where I got caught out: copy-paste openers that mention nothing from your profile. Better to lose one match than a week. There is no upside to waiting it out.
The first fortnight, I kept photos to four and cut the rest and matches started coming from closer by. I tracked it loosely and the trend was clear.
Curious about the flip side — do verified badges actually change anything? Happy to be pointed at an old thread.
Speaking only for myself, the algorithm gets blamed for a lot of ordinary bad luck and nobody wants to hear it. That is where I have landed.
Tangent, sorry — does any of this change once you have been active for a year? No agenda, just curious.
Respectfully, I read it differently. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Happy to be an outlier on that. There is room for both to be true.
