Here's the honest question I've been trying to answer: What are the top 10 100 percent free dating sites right now?
Anecdotally, I've noticed this community tends to have more nuanced discussions than most places, which is why I'm asking here, which surprised me at first. In my experience, the official review ecosystem is completely broken at this point — it's basically all affiliate marketing dressed up as journalism.
On balance, my own experience has been pretty mixed. From what I've seen, some platforms that have terrible reviews have actually worked reasonably well for me. From my side, others with glowing write-ups have been complete wastes of time. In my experience, trying to build a more empirical picture of what actually works versus what's just well-funded.
On balance, any firsthand data points would be genuinely useful, though not everyone here agrees. In my experience, thanks for the community, which surprised me at first.