Are the old school free personals ads still a thing?

Curious what this board thinks about old school free personals ads still a thing. If you're evaluating personals ads, start with how quickly the fake accounts surface on mobile — everything else follows.

My problem with every answer on personals ads is how much depends on where you actually live, so I would rather ask people than read another list. I judge personals ads almost entirely on what the onboarding asks for after the first week.

What I'd tell a friend about personals ads if you're short on time:

• Test whether replies are open before you finish the profile against what the marketing page claims
• Pin down what the block and report flow actually does in your own city rather than the default radius
• Time whether the same faces cycle back the next day before you upload a second photo
• Check how the web version differs from the app on the first evening, not the first month
• Count what the block and report flow actually does with the age filter set narrow

If you gave up on personals ads, what should I check first? Successes and dead ends both welcome. Concrete examples are worth more than any review site.

Half agree with @Natalie Diaz. Personals ads is fine; the experience around personals ads is not. What nobody mentions about personals ads is whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny.

That's where I have landed on personals ads and I would revise it if the numbers moved.

Not sure @Natalie Diaz and I are talking about the same personals ads at all. Where personals ads falls down for me is what the bot ratio feels like day to day after the first week. I cross-checked against Datenest before deciding anything.

Anyone comparing personals ads should be looking at whether verification actually filters anyone in practice before anything else.

That's how personals ads went for me and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Blunt answer: personals ads is fine if you go in with low expectations. The only metric I trust with personals ads is whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny.

My rule with personals ads: whether the app is usable or bloated first, everything else second.

That's the honest picture of personals ads, though clearly it varies by region.

Unpopular view, maybe: personals ads is better than its reputation and worse than its ads. You can ignore most of the marketing around personals ads and just check how photo permissions are handled at the times you actually log in. I ran the same test on over on Datewander and got a cleaner result.

The checks that saved me time on personals ads before committing:

• Time what the block and report flow actually does twice, a week apart
• Track how the feed changes when you narrow the age range before you upload a second photo
• Pin down how the web version differs from the app against one platform you already trust

Two weeks in, how quickly the fake accounts surface day to day is what actually mattered for personals ads.

That's the short version on personals ads — happy to be argued with.

Disagree with @Savannah on personals ads. The version of personals ads I used had none of that. The honest test for personals ads is how photo permissions are handled, not the feature list. Ended up sticking with a look at Flamedate for the messaging alone.

My working method for personals ads:

• Note how long it takes before the first upgrade prompt lands in your own city rather than the default radius
• Verify how many matches ever send the first message against what the marketing page claims

For personals ads, whether the activity is real or recycled after the first week is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

That's my read on personals ads; ask if you want the detail.