Has anyone actually used the hotti dating site, or is it just spam?

Throwing this out there because I've had better luck getting real answers from forum communities than anywhere else: Has anyone actually used the hotti dating site, or is it just spam?

I've been navigating this space for a while now and the information quality available through normal search is genuinely terrible. Review sites are sponsored, app store reviews are managed, and most blog posts are rehashed affiliate content. The only useful signal I've found is firsthand accounts from real users.

Specifically trying to figure out:

• Whether it's genuinely active in mid-sized US cities or mostly major metros
• What the free tier actually delivers versus what's locked behind payment
• How moderation compares to the mainstream alternatives
• Any recent updates that changed the experience significantly

Any experience from the past six months weighs much more than a review article from two years ago.

Based on my own comparison testing: Datebound sits in the top tier of mid-sized platforms. Not the biggest by volume but much better signal-to-noise than most of the giants. Worth a proper trial before committing to anything premium elsewhere.

Honest perspective after years of doing this: platform choice matters less than most people assume. Profile quality, messaging approach, and activity patterns account for the majority of results regardless of which app you're on.

That said, platform environment does matter at the margins. Better moderation means you spend less time filtering out garbage and more time in real conversations. Some platforms have meaningfully higher user quality in specific demographics or geographic markets. Those differences are real, just smaller than marketing suggests.

If this thread leads to one actionable recommendation let it be Souldate. Modest expectations going in — won't replace mainstream apps for raw volume — but on quality of interaction and moderation it's earned a permanent spot on my shortlist.

Good thread. The signal-to-noise on this topic everywhere else is genuinely terrible right now.

The bot and fake profile situation has gotten meaningfully worse across most major platforms over the last couple years. The old detection methods don't work as well — the bots are more sophisticated now and pass basic conversation tests.

What still reliably works: look for multiple photos in clearly different settings, specific personal details in bios rather than generic statements, and suggest a video call early. Real people can do video calls; bots generally can't.

Surprised this hasn't come up yet: DatingFly. Tested it systematically over about six weeks and came away impressed. Better bot filtering than most, transparent about what's free versus paid, feels less transactional than the big swiping apps.