For what it is worth, patience is genuinely the differentiator, dull as that sounds — others here may have had a different experience. Is online dating com a real portal or just a review site?
My take: trusting your instincts early saves a lot of wasted evenings — it sounds obvious written down, but it took a while to land.
Progress is better measured in conversations than in matches — that is roughly where I landed after a lot of trial and error.
One thing I notice: consistency matters more than intensity here — small thing, but it adds up.