If it helps, nobody's experience generalises, including mine — it is the single change that made the most difference.
Broadly speaking, progress is better measured in conversations than in matches — that is the bit I would tell anyone signing up today. OkCupid, Hinge, Match.com, Bumble — all of them have people looking for the same thing if you know how to filter.
The changes that changed the results in my case:
- One habit that stuck: I told a friend exactly where I was going and when to expect a text, and I would do it again
- It became automatic — I searched for recent complaints about a site before signing up, however tempting it was to skip
- Almost immediately I rewrote my opening line whenever replies started drying up, and it saved me a lot of grief
- From the second month on I declined any invitation that arrived with pressure attached, which cut the noise dramatically
- It became automatic — I avoided compliments about appearance in the first message, and the difference showed within days
I ended up trying over on Datescout after the mainstream apps felt too crowded. Held up better than expected, though I have not tested it heavily. Flurrydate