Are there any completely free dating sites that verify user identities to prevent catfishing?

Bringing completely free dating sites that verify user identities to prevent catfishing here because the blog posts are useless. The only metric I trust with dating sites is how the matching logic appears to work once you are past sign-up.

The part that trips me up on dating sites is how much depends on where you actually live. Two weeks in, how many active users are within range once you are past sign-up is what actually mattered for dating sites.

The quick sanity pass I run on dating sites after a few false starts:

• Track what happens to your visibility after a week of silence using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Time how the feed changes when you narrow the age range before you commit any time to it
• Pin down what share of the layout is advertising before you upload a second photo
• Track how many profiles carry more than two photos with notifications switched off
• Note what the filters do after a page refresh before you commit any time to it

If you have used dating sites in the last few months, where did it fall over? Cheerleading and cynicism all fair game. Actual numbers will save me a wasted month.

For what it is worth: dating sites did roughly what I expected, no more. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check what the reply rate looks like day to day.

What nobody mentions about dating sites is how many accounts are real once you are past sign-up.

That's my read on dating sites, for whatever that's worth.

Disagree with @LizBaker on dating sites. The version of dating sites I used had none of that. For dating sites, how fast moderation responds is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

Where dating sites falls down for me is whether conversations actually go anywhere day to day.

That's my read on dating sites and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Not the answer anyone wants: I want to like dating sites more than I actually do. I judge dating sites almost entirely on what share of matches go nowhere day to day.

My rule with dating sites: how many active users are within range in practice first, everything else second.

That's the honest picture of dating sites, for whatever that's worth.

Blunt answer: dating sites surprised me, though not immediately. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at whether notifications are useful or noise at the times you actually log in before anything else.

Practical notes on dating sites:

• Sanity-check what the block and report flow actually does on mobile data, not office wifi
• Sanity-check what the filters do after a page refresh twice, a week apart
• Track whether replies are open before you finish the profile on mobile data, not office wifi

The thing that decides it for dating sites is how quickly the fake accounts surface.

That's the honest picture of dating sites — happy to be argued with.

For what it's worth: dating sites is a decent starting point and a poor destination. The honest test for dating sites is what happens after you block someone, not the feature list. If you want a second opinion, the datedesire.online crowd is the one I'd try next.

If you're evaluating dating sites, start with how the pricing is structured in practice — everything else follows.

That's the honest picture of dating sites, though clearly it varies by region.

Unpopular view, maybe: dating sites is fine if you go in with low expectations. What nobody mentions about dating sites is how the pricing is structured in practice.

The honest test for dating sites is how the pricing is structured in practice once you are past sign-up, not the feature list.

That's my read on dating sites — happy to be argued with.

@Andrew I wanted that to be true of dating sites and it simply wasn't. For dating sites, what costs money once you are past sign-up after the first week is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. I ran the same test on Rendate these days and got a cleaner result.

The thing that decides it for dating sites is what the search filters can actually do after the first week.

That's where I've landed on dating sites and I'd revise it if the numbers moved.

Short version: I want to like dating sites more than I actually do. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check what you lose by never paying at the times you actually log in.

That's where I've landed on dating sites, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Going against the thread here: dating sites is fine if you go in with low expectations. I judge dating sites almost entirely on what happens after you block someone. Kept flamedate.online open in another tab to compare.

My rule with dating sites: how many active users are within range first, everything else second.

That's the honest picture of dating sites, may not hold for you.

Going against the thread here: there's a version of dating sites that works, and it isn't the default one. If you're evaluating dating sites, start with how thin it gets in smaller towns in practice — everything else follows. Datescout (datescout.site) is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

Two weeks in, how clean the member base looks on mobile is what actually mattered for dating sites.

That's how dating sites went for me — happy to be argued with.

@Connor Price I had the opposite result with dating sites, so take both our takes with salt. The only metric I trust with dating sites is how much of the layout is ads once you are past sign-up. Someone here pointed me at over on Datelink and it held up better than expected.

That's the short version on dating sites, for whatever that is worth.