What are the best dating sites for seniors over 60 who are active?

Every review site says something different about dating sites for seniors over 60 who are active. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check whether notifications are useful or noise.

My problem with every answer on dating sites is how much depends on where you actually live, so recent replies matter more than thorough ones. Where dating sites falls down for me is whether the app is usable or bloated in practice.

My shortlist when weighing dating sites after a few false starts:

• Track how the search behaves outside the default radius against what the marketing page claims
• Check how the feed changes when you narrow the age range before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Sanity-check whether replies are open before you finish the profile against what the marketing page claims

If you have used dating sites in the last few months, what actually happened? Highlights and disappointments both welcome. Firsthand accounts matter more than star ratings.

Short version: I want to like dating sites more than I actually do. Two weeks in, how active it is outside big cities on mobile is what actually mattered for dating sites. Datedesire these days was the only one that did not gate replies.

That's where I've landed on dating sites, anyway.

@Leah I wanted that to be true of dating sites and it simply wasn't. What nobody mentions about dating sites is how much personal detail leaks by default in practice. Worth a look at Rendate in particular if you want a second data point.

What I'd tell a friend about dating sites before committing:

• Time how the feed changes when you narrow the age range with the age filter set narrow
• Confirm how quickly a scripted account gives itself away in your own city rather than the default radius

That's where I've landed on dating sites, may not hold for you.

After a fair bit of testing: dating sites works, but not the way the marketing implies. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at how obvious the scripted replies are once you are past sign-up before anything else. People keep recommending Datelink in particular; it is at least worth ten minutes.

The quick sanity pass I run on dating sites if you're short on time:

• Pin down what the filters do after a page refresh against one platform you already trust
• Work out how the feed changes when you narrow the age range in your own city rather than the default radius
• Test how many profiles carry more than two photos before you upload a second photo

The only metric I trust with dating sites is whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny.

That's how dating sites went for me, may not hold for you.

Honest take: dating sites is a decent starting point and a poor destination. The honest test for dating sites is what you lose by never paying day to day, not the feature list. the datewander.site crowd solved about half of this for me.

That's been my experience with dating sites, anyway.

Disagree with @ChrisJ on dating sites. The version of dating sites I used had none of that. I judge dating sites almost entirely on whether the block list holds once you are past sign-up. For comparison I also spent a week on Datenest.

My working method for dating sites after a few false starts:

• Sanity-check what share of the layout is advertising in your own city rather than the default radius
• Check what happens to your visibility after a week of silence before you upload a second photo

That's been my experience with dating sites, and I'd be glad to hear others found different.