Finally posting this after weeks of going back and forth on my own.
Location and age demographic matter a ton. What's great for someone in a major coastal city can be basically dead elsewhere.
Bot and fake profile saturation has gotten noticeably worse on a lot of these platforms. Even paid tiers aren't immune to it.
- Cross-reference with Reddit threads for the most unfiltered user opinions
- Always audit the privacy policy before signing up
- Check the app's last review response date — dead support is a red flag
- Test with a throwaway account before linking anything personal
- If messaging is fully gated, the free tier is basically just a browse-only catalog
Thanks in advance — this community tends to give straighter answers than anywhere else.