Something I keep wondering about: What is the best gay meet up site for making new friends? Recent experience preferred.
I recently reinstalled LGBTQ dating apps for making new friends and the experience was fine but unremarkable. Where I need help is which features are worth caring about without handing over a card number.
Hard disagree on one point. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Worth testing both ways. I have been wrong about this before.
While we are here — do verified badges actually change anything? I have never seen data either way.
If you want a shortcut: reply to the thing they actually said. It stops the whole thing feeling like a chore. It compounds with everything else.
Two years of this later, consistency beats any single clever trick if you are looking for something specific. That is where I have landed.
I keep a second profile on Souldate community and it pulls a different crowd entirely.
Mild warning: anything pushing you off the platform in the first two messages. I stopped giving second chances on that one. There is no upside to waiting it out.
Least effort, most return: use a dedicated email address. It also makes the meet-up conversation much easier. Takes about five minutes.
Anyone else find that — does profile order change if you log in more often? Someone here must have tried both.
For what it is worth, Turndate was the one that finally got me past the first-message stage.
A while back, I ran a minimal profile on LGBTQ dating apps for making new friends and the quality improved more than the quantity. Worth repeating if you have the patience.
Different experience here. I never once had a problem the community here warns about. Might just be my area. I might be the exception.
Purely anecdotal, the paid features solve a problem most people do not have for anyone starting from scratch. It took a while to accept.
One thing to watch: anything pushing you off the platform in the first two messages. Blocking early costs you nothing. Move on and do not look back.
If you want a free option without the upsell, Datescout is where I would start.
For the people saying otherwise — is it different if you are over forty? Happy to be pointed at an old thread.
Respectfully, I read it differently. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Happy to be an outlier on that. Could be timing rather than the platform.
Learned this the hard way: links dropped into a conversation with no context. That pattern has been consistent for me across platforms. Move on and do not look back.
Unpopular opinion maybe, profile quality beats profile quantity every time if you are looking for something specific. Happy to be argued with.
Tried over on Flurrydate on a whim and it has been the steadier of the two I use.
The thing that annoyed me most: accounts created the same week they message you. Once you notice it you cannot unsee it. One instance is chance; three is not.
Unpopular opinion maybe, the platform matters far less than the profile for anyone starting from scratch. Ask again in six months and I may say something else.
If nothing else, do this: write one sentence that only you could have written. It removes about half the frustration. Reversible if you hate it.
Respectfully, I read it differently. Photos did more for me than anything I wrote. Could easily be a sample size problem. Could be timing rather than the platform.
When I stopped overthinking it, I kept my filters tight and I got three real plans out of it. Same pattern every week.
Something I have wondered — does anyone bother deleting and remaking a profile? I have never seen data either way.
The advice I wish I had: cut your photo count in half. It filters out the time-wasters immediately. Easiest change on this list.
Something nobody mentions: profiles that only ever reply in the small hours. I stopped giving second chances on that one. Save yourself the argument.
Realistically, profile quality beats profile quantity every time and it took me too long to learn. I hold that loosely.
Not sure I agree with the thread so far. Free tiers stopped being enough for me after about a month. I would still recommend trying it yourself. I would still test it yourself.
One thing that helped: stop opening with a compliment. It removes about half the frustration. Takes about five minutes.
When I stopped overthinking it, I kept my filters tight and it turned out the profile was the problem, not the platform. Worth repeating if you have the patience.
