If it helps, expecting any single conversation to work out is the wrong frame — others here may have had a different experience. Results vary a lot and a quiet fortnight means very little — others here may have had a different experience. Can anyone verify some 100 free dating websites that are actually active?
For what it is worth, anything pushing paid verification is worth walking away from — that is roughly where I landed after a lot of trial and error.
Speaking generally, the people posting about success are a tiny and unrepresentative sample — that is roughly where I landed after a lot of trial and error.
Speaking generally, patience is genuinely the differentiator, dull as that sounds — happy to be argued with on that one.