Finally posting this after trying to piece together an answer from search results that are all over the place.
My main concern is fake profiles and bots. Even some of the paid platforms have gotten pretty bad about this.
Location matters a lot with this stuff and I feel like most advice doesn't account for smaller cities and rural areas at all.
- Run a reverse image search on profile photos that look too professional
- Look for 'last active' timestamps before investing time in a match
- Test the free tier fully before entering any payment information
- Check recent Reddit threads for unfiltered user reviews
- Never share your real phone number in early conversations
Thanks in advance for the real talk.
One I've been seeing mentioned more lately is Datewander — anyone here have experience with it?