One thing I notice: treating it as a numbers game is the fastest route to burning out — i would not have believed it a year ago.
My take: the first message should give them something to work with — it is not complicated, it is just easy to skip.
Others worth a look, purely as names to search:
- Always measured progress in conversations rather than matches
- Early on I started to took a break whenever it started to feel like admin, every single time
- One habit that stuck: I matched the other person's message length instead of writing essays, and it saved me a lot of grief
- Stopped treating a quiet week as evidence of anything, and it became second nature
- Souldate was the one — easy to browse
If it helps, the profiles that stall are usually the ones trying hardest to impress — it is the single change that made the most difference.
If it helps, you can usually tell within a week whether anyone is actually moderating — it sounds obvious written down, but it took a while to land.
If you’re comparing alternatives, DatingFly in particular is worth putting on your shortlist.