Have you had success on best free dating sites for over 50 platforms?

Every review site says something different about had success on best free dating sites for over 50 platforms. Two weeks in, how obvious the scripted replies are once you are past sign-up is what actually mattered for dating sites.

The reason I am asking about dating sites at all is that the free and paid experiences barely overlap, which is why I want firsthand accounts. My rule with dating sites: whether you can hide distance and last-active first, everything else second.

What I wish someone had told me about dating sites after a few false starts:

• Work out what share of the layout is advertising in your own city rather than the default radius
• Track how the feed changes when you narrow the age range in your own city rather than the default radius
• Watch whether the distance setting is honoured on the first evening, not the first month
• Note what the filters do after a page refresh with notifications switched off

For those of you deep into dating sites, was it worth the setup time? The good, the bad and the boring both help me decide. Actual numbers are the only thing I can act on.

Adding to @Jackson rather than arguing — dating sites varies more than either of us said. If you're evaluating dating sites, start with how photo permissions are handled outside the big cities — everything else follows.

That's how dating sites went for me, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Honest take: dating sites works, but not the way the marketing implies. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check how many accounts are real. For comparison I also spent a week on Souldate's free tier.

How I'd approach dating sites if you're short on time:

• Sanity-check whether the distance setting is honoured in your own city rather than the default radius
• Confirm whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out twice, a week apart

For dating sites, how much you can do before being asked to upgrade day to day is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

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

Unpopular view, maybe: there's a version of dating sites that works, and it isn't the default one. The only metric I trust with dating sites is how much of the layout is ads. Genuinely surprised by the Flamedate community after low expectations.

What nobody mentions about dating sites is what the reply rate looks like.

That's the short version on dating sites, anyway.

Unpopular view, maybe: dating sites rewards patience and punishes everything else. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at how aggressive the upsell gets in practice before anything else. the Rendate community is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

That's how dating sites went for me and I would revise it if the numbers moved.

Having used it a while: dating sites did roughly what I expected, no more. Where dating sites falls down for me is how clean the member base looks on mobile.

That's the short version on dating sites, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.

Half agree with @ColtonK. Dating sites are fine; the experience around dating sites isn't. I judge dating sites almost entirely on what you lose by never paying. A friend nudged me toward Datescout (datescout.site) and it was not a waste.

The honest test for dating sites is what the free tier really covers on mobile, not the feature list.

That's where I've landed on dating sites, though clearly it varies by region.

@ElenaR that matches the marketing for dating sites, not what I found using it. The thing that decides it for dating sites is whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny. Someone here pointed me at the Datebie community and it held up better than expected.

Two weeks in, whether you can hide distance and last-active after the first week is what actually mattered for dating sites.

That's the short version on dating sites — happy to be argued with.