Which best dating sites for mature singles have the highest success rates?

Spent the weekend reading about dating sites for mature singles have the highest success rates and came away more confused. What nobody mentions about dating sites is how thin it gets in smaller towns once you are past sign-up.

Where I get stuck with dating sites is how fast the picture goes out of date, which is why I want firsthand accounts. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny once you are past sign-up before anything else.

What I actually check with dating sites this year:

• Note what happens to your visibility after a week of silence on the first evening, not the first month
• Verify whether replies are open before you finish the profile twice, a week apart
• Confirm how quickly a scripted account gives itself away at the hour you would actually be using it

If you tried dating sites and moved on, what would you do differently? Recommendations and warnings both welcome. Real usage notes matter more than star ratings.

Speaking from four months of it: dating sites has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check how much of the layout is ads. a look at Rendate is worth ten minutes before you commit anywhere.

If you are evaluating dating sites, start with what the search filters can actually do — everything else follows.

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

Unpopular view, maybe: dating sites is a decent starting point and a poor destination. The honest test for dating sites is what costs money once you are past sign-up outside the big cities, not the feature list. the Datescout community was the only one that did not gate replies.

Where I'd start with dating sites after a few false starts:

• Note whether the distance setting is honoured on the first evening, not the first month
• Look at how the feed changes when you narrow the age range against one platform you already trust

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

Honest take: dating sites works, but not the way the marketing implies. Where dating sites falls down for me is whether the block list holds. Someone here pointed me at what Datedesire is doing and it held up better than expected.

The quick sanity pass I run on dating sites:

• Watch whether the distance setting is honoured using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Time how many profiles carry more than two photos with the age filter set narrow
• Check how the feed changes when you narrow the age range before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Test how many matches ever send the first message using a fresh account rather than an old one

I judge dating sites almost entirely on whether the block list holds.

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

Going against the thread here: dating sites did roughly what I expected, no more. The thing that decides it for dating sites is how quickly the fake accounts surface. People keep recommending the Datelink community; it is at least worth ten minutes.

Worked for me on dating sites, may not hold for you.

Adding to @David rather than arguing — dating sites varies more than either of us said. For dating sites, whether it is busy at the times you are at the times you actually log in is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening. A friend nudged me toward Luvdate and it was not a waste.

My rule with dating sites: whether conversations actually go anywhere first, everything else second.

That's my read on dating sites, may not hold for you.

After a fair bit of testing: there is a version of dating sites that works, and it is not the default one. The only metric I trust with dating sites is what privacy controls exist in practice.

Worked for me on dating sites, anyway.

@Charlotte that's fair in a big city, but dating sites is a different story outside one. Two weeks in, whether you can hide distance and last-active at the times you actually log in is what actually mattered for dating sites.

My rule with dating sites: whether notifications are useful or noise once you are past sign-up first, everything else second.

That's been my experience with dating sites, for whatever that is worth.

After a fair bit of testing: dating sites has been mixed for me and I'll explain why. The honest test for dating sites is how the discovery feed is ordered on mobile, not the feature list.

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