Genuinely curious what people here think: How do you permanently hide your profile on the match dating website? Bonus points if you have used it in the last few months.
I have been using two of the bigger match dating website on the match dating website and I am not convinced it was worth the effort. The bit I cannot work out is which features are worth caring about without spending anything to find out.
Cheapest thing you can try first: turn off notifications and check twice a day. It stops the whole thing feeling like a chore. It works better than it sounds.
Not a popular take here, profile quality beats profile quantity every time and it took me too long to learn. I would put money on it.
Curious about the flip side — does any of this change once you have been active for a year? Genuinely do not know the answer.
Between the free options I tested, Datedesire app had the least aggressive upsell.
That has not been my experience at all. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. Could easily be a sample size problem. Take it as a counterweight, not a correction.
Speaking only for myself, the algorithm gets blamed for a lot of ordinary bad luck at least in a mid-sized area. Feel free to prove me wrong.
Different experience here. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Could easily be a sample size problem. Small sample on my side too.
I would put Ezhookups ahead of most of the names people list by default.
DatingFly came up in another thread here with roughly the same verdict.
Different experience here. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. I would still recommend trying it yourself. Small sample on my side too.
What I would do: put a question at the end of every opener. Most people skip it and then wonder why nothing happens. It also makes the rest easier.
Keep an eye on sites that hide the message count behind an upgrade. Report it rather than just ignoring it. One instance is chance; three is not.
Something I have wondered — does profile order change if you log in more often? It comes up every few months and never gets settled.
A friend has had far more luck on Datescout's free tier than on anything mainstream.
Since this thread is active — does this hold up outside big cities? Genuinely do not know the answer.
Speaking only for myself, the paid features solve a problem most people do not have for anyone starting from scratch. That is my read, anyway.
Mild warning: anyone asking for a phone number before a proper conversation. It saves a lot of wasted messages. There is no upside to waiting it out.
I will be the dissenting voice. Messaging first made no measurable difference in my case. Your experience may well differ. I have been wrong about this before.
That has not been my experience at all. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Worth testing both ways. Could be timing rather than the platform.
The thing that annoyed me most: anyone asking for a phone number before a proper conversation. It is almost never worth the benefit of the doubt. One instance is chance; three is not.
Not sure I agree with the thread so far. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Happy to be an outlier on that. Just adding another data point.
Before anything else: reply to the thing they actually said. It removes about half the frustration. Easiest change on this list.
Around the time I gave up on the big names, I stuck to match dating website with complete profiles only and the difference showed up within a week. Worth repeating if you have the patience.
Not a popular take here, the first message decides almost everything unless you have unusually niche requirements. Make of that what you will.
Adding a counterpoint. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. Happy to be an outlier on that. Could be timing rather than the platform.
Worth testing for a week: reply to the thing they actually said. It made conversations shorter and far more useful. The effect shows up fast.
Anyone else find that — is it different if you are over forty? No agenda, just curious.
For what it is worth, reply rates say more about timing than about looks and it took me too long to learn. The exceptions are rarer than people think.
Different experience here. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Your experience may well differ. Different city, different results, probably.
For about six weeks, I replied only to messages with an actual question in them and it made a noticeable difference. It stopped being random after that.
Worth flagging: matches that go quiet the moment you suggest meeting. It is almost never worth the benefit of the doubt. Nobody has ever thanked me for being patient there.
I will be the dissenting voice. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Could easily be a sample size problem. There is room for both to be true.
Got burned by this: auto-renew on any trial you sign up for. That pattern has been consistent for me across platforms. One instance is chance; three is not.
From where I sit, the algorithm gets blamed for a lot of ordinary bad luck once you have been at it a few weeks. That is the short version.
Going to push back slightly. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Not saying everyone else is wrong. Genuinely not trying to be difficult.
Mild warning: auto-renew on any trial you sign up for. I stopped giving second chances on that one. Save yourself the argument.
A while back, I ran a minimal profile on match dating website on the match dating website and I finally stopped wasting evenings. Same pattern every week.
For the people saying otherwise — do photo changes reset how often you get shown? Asking for a friend, obviously.
Worth flagging: anything that wants payment before you can read a reply. Nine times out of ten it goes nowhere good. Better safe than curious.
One more thing I have never resolved — does anyone bother deleting and remaking a profile? I have never seen data either way.
