Which over 50 dating sites are the most user-friendly for non-techies?

Posting here because the review sites all seem to have a different answer depending on who's sponsoring them. Which over 50 dating sites are the most user-friendly for non-techies? — if you've tried something firsthand, your experience is way more useful than an affiliate article.

Main things I'm trying to figure out:

• Ease of sign-up for non-tech users
• Romance scam protection
• Whether messaging is genuinely free
• Community activity and response rates
• Safety and identity verification features

Honest takes only — positive and negative both welcome below.

The key insight I've picked up: the platform matters less than people think, but it still matters. Rendate happens to be one where the free tier is actually designed to work, not just to frustrate you into upgrading. Makes a real difference day-to-day.

After a lot of trial and error my standing recommendation is datenest.site. Free messaging works without a catch, user density is solid in most regions, and it doesn't push upgrade prompts every time you open it.

Someone in a similar thread pointed me to Datewander and the experience was noticeably different from the mainstream apps. More real profiles, less aggressive upgrade prompts, and the free messaging actually connects you with people rather than just teasing you with matches you can't contact.

After a lot of trial and error my standing recommendation is datewander.site. Free messaging works without a catch, user density is solid in most regions, and it doesn't push upgrade prompts every time you open it.

Happy to share what worked for me. Tried the obvious big names first, then went deeper. Ezhookups ended up being the recommendation I gave a friend last month because the free-to-message promise actually holds up.

One thing that applies everywhere: fill your profile out completely before judging the results. Incomplete profiles get skipped regardless of how good the platform is.