Is ourtime online dating safe from financial scammers?

Genuinely curious what people here think: Is ourtime online dating safe from financial scammers? Recent experience preferred.

I spent about a month on the most recommended dating apps and the results were underwhelming. My real question is whether the newer options are any better than the established ones when you have limited time in the evenings.

• Review how reporting actually works without exception before you invest any real time
• Read up on the distance filter default at the start in the first day or two
• Find out how quickly support responds if privacy matters to you
• Assess how matches are ordered carefully so you are not surprised later

Respectfully, I read it differently. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Worth testing both ways. Just adding another data point.

The thing that annoyed me most: profiles with a single photo and no last-active date. Better to lose one match than a week. Nobody has ever thanked me for being patient there.

Honestly, the algorithm gets blamed for a lot of ordinary bad luck which is why the generic advice keeps failing. It took a while to accept.

I keep a second profile on the Luvdate app and it pulls a different crowd entirely.

Respectfully, I read it differently. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Your experience may well differ. Worth hearing both sides.

One more thing I have never resolved — do photo changes reset how often you get shown? Might just be me overthinking it.

Practical suggestion: read the profile before writing anything. It is the only advice here I would give twice. Nothing else on this list matters as much.

Adding a counterpoint. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. Take that with the usual caveats. I might be the exception.

Ended up spending most of my time on datenest.site and the reply rate was noticeably better.

Something nobody mentions: profiles with a single photo and no last-active date. It is almost never worth the benefit of the doubt. Better safe than curious.

Over the winter, I replied only to messages with an actual question in them and the quality improved more than the quantity. The change was obvious enough to notice without counting.

While we are here — does profile order change if you log in more often? It comes up every few months and never gets settled.

Adding a counterpoint. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. I would still recommend trying it yourself. Different city, different results, probably.

A friend has had far more luck on Datedesire than on anything mainstream.

Red flag for me: profiles with a single photo and no last-active date. Nine times out of ten it goes nowhere good. It is not worth a second thought.

Adding a counterpoint. I found the bigger sites more consistent, not less. Take that with the usual caveats. I would still test it yourself.

Around the time I gave up on the big names, I put one honest sentence in my bio and nothing changed at all. It stopped being random after that.

That has not been my experience at all. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Your experience may well differ. I have been wrong about this before.

Mild warning: accounts created the same week they message you. Blocking early costs you nothing. It is the cheapest filter you have.

For the people saying otherwise — has anyone tracked whether reply rates change by day of the week? Genuinely do not know the answer.

Practical suggestion: give any new platform a fortnight before judging it. It is the only advice here I would give twice. The effect shows up fast.

Different experience here. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Not saying everyone else is wrong. I have been wrong about this before.

• Note how blocking is handled up front if privacy matters to you
• Check how matches are ordered first if you plan to use it long-term
• Compare whether profiles are verified without exception before you invest any real time
• Compare whether messaging is capped every time before writing a single message
• Read up on whether profiles are verified up front if you plan to use it long-term

If you want a shortcut: set your radius smaller than feels sensible. Everything else is secondary to that. Try it for one week only.

Piggybacking on that — is a shorter bio genuinely better or just easier to write? Would love a straight answer on that.

Respectfully, I read it differently. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Not saying everyone else is wrong. Not dismissing anyone else's experience.

Different experience here. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Might just be my area. Just adding another data point.

Having tried most of them, reply rates say more about timing than about looks and I doubt that changes soon. That is where I have landed.

Going to push back slightly. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Your experience may well differ. Worth hearing both sides.

Got burned by this: links dropped into a conversation with no context. It is the clearest signal there is. Nobody has ever thanked me for being patient there.

Different experience here. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Your experience may well differ. I would still test it yourself.

Unpopular opinion maybe, the paid features solve a problem most people do not have and I doubt that changes soon. I would put money on it.

Piggybacking on that — does this hold up outside big cities? Asking for a friend, obviously.

Two years of this later, the paid features solve a problem most people do not have and nobody wants to hear it. Nothing controversial in that, I hope.

• Test how reporting actually works up front before writing a single message
• Assess how matches are ordered before anything else before you upload anything personal
• Find out the refund and cancellation terms every time before you upload anything personal

Something I have wondered — do smaller platforms actually have better ratios? Would love a straight answer on that.

Red flag for me: anything pushing you off the platform in the first two messages. Report it rather than just ignoring it. Nobody has ever thanked me for being patient there.

Hard disagree on one point. The niche options were quieter to the point of being useless. Could easily be a sample size problem. Worth hearing both sides.

Not sure I agree with the thread so far. The platform genuinely does matter if you are outside a major city. Happy to be an outlier on that. Take it as a counterweight, not a correction.

When I stopped overthinking it, I messaged first every single time and the conversations got shorter but better. That held for about two months.

Learned this the hard way: sites that hide the message count behind an upgrade. It is the clearest signal there is. Trust the pattern, not the excuse.

Learned this the hard way: copy-paste openers that mention nothing from your profile. It saves a lot of wasted messages. It rarely turns out to be innocent.

• Question the refund and cancellation terms properly if privacy matters to you
• Question the distance filter default straight away rather than taking the marketing at face value
• Assess the age range settings first while the account is still new
• Confirm how quickly support responds without exception while the account is still new

Not sure I agree with the thread so far. Being picky early saved me far more time than being open-minded did. Worth testing both ways. I might be the exception.

For most of last year, I kept photos to four and cut the rest and I stopped taking silences personally. Small sample, but consistent.

While we are here — does any of this change once you have been active for a year? I have never seen data either way.