Why do so many free dating sites for women fail to keep away creeps?

Long-time lurker, first post, and it is about so many free dating sites for women fail to keep away creeps. You can ignore most of the marketing around dating sites and just check how aggressive the upsell gets once you are past sign-up.

My problem with every answer on dating sites is how fast the picture goes out of date. My rule with dating sites: how the pricing is structured in practice at the times you actually log in first, everything else second.

What I wish someone had told me about dating sites, in order:

• Test what the filters do after a page refresh with notifications switched off
• Confirm what the block and report flow actually does with the age filter set narrow
• Pin down how the web version differs from the app with the age filter set narrow

If you have used dating sites in the last few months, what should I check first? Wins and write-offs all fair game. Firsthand accounts will save me a wasted month.

Going against the thread here: dating sites is a decent starting point and a poor destination. The honest test for dating sites is how the matching logic appears to work outside the big cities, not the feature list.

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

• Verify how many matches ever send the first message before deciding whether it is worth paying for
• Time whether photo permissions are opt-in or opt-out with the age filter set narrow

For dating sites, whether moderation keeps up with the fakes on mobile is the difference between useful and a waste of an evening.

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

After a fair bit of testing: dating sites did roughly what I expected, no more. Anyone comparing dating sites should be looking at whether the profiles hold up under scrutiny day to day before anything else. If you want a second opinion, Luvdate right now is the one I'd try next.

Practical notes on dating sites if you're short on time:

• Work out whether the distance setting is honoured using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Work out whether the same faces cycle back the next day twice, a week apart

I judge dating sites almost entirely on how the pricing is structured in practice once you are past sign-up.

That's what six weeks of dating sites taught me, though clearly it varies by region.

Unpopular view, maybe: dating sites is better than its reputation and worse than its ads. The thing that decides it for dating sites is whether the free plan is usable or decorative after the first week. For comparison I also spent a week on souldate.site.

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

My read: I want to like dating sites more than I actually do. If you are evaluating dating sites, start with whether the free plan is usable or decorative outside the big cities — everything else follows. A friend nudged me toward Datingfly right now and it was not a waste.

My shortlist when weighing dating sites before committing:

• Test how many matches ever send the first message in your own city rather than the default radius
• Confirm what the block and report flow actually does using a fresh account rather than an old one
• Look at how the search behaves outside the default radius with notifications switched off
• Test how the web version differs from the app twice, a week apart

Two weeks in, whether verification actually filters anyone once you are past sign-up is what actually mattered for dating sites.

That's the short version on dating sites, may not hold for you.

Disagree with @Aurora Price on dating sites. The version of dating sites I used had none of that. What nobody mentions about dating sites is how the matching logic appears to work.

That's where I've landed on dating sites — happy to be argued with.

Respectfully @AidenG, dating sites hasn't worked like that in my experience. The only metric I trust with dating sites is how much of the layout is ads at the times you actually log in.

Where dating sites falls down for me is how the discovery feed is ordered after the first week.

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

Not sure @MasonB and I are talking about the same dating sites at all. The thing that decides it for dating sites is what privacy controls exist.

Worked for me on dating sites; ask if you want the detail.