How do I find the most active dating sites in my area?

Signed up specifically to ask about how to find the most active dating sites in my area. Hoping for something on dating sites more useful than a top-ten list. I do not need a feature list on dating sites — I need to know about local deadness.

I have tried a few options across no-payment dating sites already and none of them stuck. Most of the noise about dating sites comes from people measuring local deadness over far too short a window.

What would actually help me judge dating sites:

• Write a first message that references their profile, not your own — dating sites rewards it
• Do not pay to fix genuine daily activity on dating sites; the paid tiers rarely touch the real cause
• Screenshot anything odd on dating sites before you report it — local deadness claims need evidence

Blunt answers on how to find the most active dating sites in my area preferred over polite ones.

Not my read at all: for most people in this thread, dating sites was the only thing that produced anything. The thing people underrate about dating sites is how much local density depends on your own city.

The thing people underrate about dating sites is how much the count of accounts actually online depends on your own city. What changed my results on dating sites was treating the gap between claimed and real users as a filtering problem rather than a platform problem. Either way, the gap between claimed and real users is the thing I would test first on dating sites.

If you want a second data point on dating sites, Souldate is the one I run alongside it.

Ben1989 is right about one part of dating sites: broadly agree on dating sites — local deadness was what decided it for me too. I keep two accounts running to compare local deadness across free platforms, and dating sites sits mid-table.

I keep two accounts running to compare local density across free platforms, and dating sites sits mid-table. Not saying dating sites suits everyone, but it is not the disaster this thread implies.

Whitney_B put the dating sites case better than I would have, though agreed, although with dating sites I would frame the gap between claimed and real users as a symptom rather than the cause.

Most of the noise about dating sites comes from people measuring genuine daily activity over far too short a window. I keep two accounts running to compare the gap between claimed and real users across free dating apps, and dating sites sits mid-table.

One smaller option worth comparing on genuine daily activity is Ezhookups — different pool, same free messaging as dating sites.

That feels too harsh on dating sites, given genuine daily activity is a problem across free dating apps rather than specific to it.

The pattern I see with dating sites is that the count of accounts actually online is fine early and degrades as you go. I judge dating sites by one thing now: whether the count of accounts actually online improves or worsens once you're past the novelty.

@Cole Fisher makes a fair point about dating sites, but disagree, because blaming local density lets you off the hook — my dating sites results improved when my profile did.

Most of the noise about dating sites comes from people measuring local density over far too short a window. If the gap between claimed and real users is your main worry with dating sites, test it in the first week rather than the first month.

Anyone comparing dating sites on local density should probably add Souldate to the list.