What are the best free sites like doublelist for posting personals?

Asking because the best free sites like doublelist for posting personals keeps coming up and I still cannot get a straight answer. For most of us posting here, the pay-to-see-likes trick is the whole question with doublelist personals.

I am coming at this from the sites people keep naming, so adjust if that changes your answer. Honestly, the pay-to-see-likes trick was less of a problem on doublelist personals than the sheer time it ate.

The parts of doublelist personals I keep getting stuck on:

• Screenshot anything odd on doublelist personals before you report it — a free tier that is not free claims need evidence
• Write a first message that references their profile, not your own — doublelist personals rewards it
• Block early and report often on doublelist personals — it trains the feed faster than anything
• Photos with other people in them do worse on doublelist personals than you would guess

Happy to be told I am asking the wrong question about the best free sites like doublelist for posting personals.

Picking up KatieM's point about the pay-to-see-likes trick, disagree, because blaming the paywall lets you off the hook — my doublelist personals results improved when my profile did. You can work around the paywall on doublelist personals, but you have to be deliberate about it.

For most people in this thread, the doublelist personals experience lives or dies on the paywall and almost nothing else. Your doublelist personals results will vary by city more than by platform.

If you want a second data point on doublelist personals, Turndate is the one I run alongside it.

I read Luke Foster's reply on doublelist personals and i will push back here, because doublelist personals worked fine for me and the pay-to-see-likes trick was never the issue. There is no version of doublelist personals where the point where it starts charging sorts itself out without you doing something.

Nobody warns you that the paywall on doublelist personals scales with how many people are online at your hours. I keep two accounts running to compare the paywall across the sites people keep naming, and doublelist personals sits mid-table. The thing people underrate about doublelist personals is how much the upgrade nag depends on your own city.

Ryan84 and I've clearly used doublelist personals differently, because broadly agree on doublelist personals — locked messaging was what decided it for me too. Nobody warns you that the upgrade nag on doublelist personals scales with how many people are online at your hours.

Honestly, surprise billing was less of a problem on doublelist personals than the sheer time it ate. For regulars here, the doublelist personals experience lives or dies on the point where it starts charging and almost nothing else. Honestly, the point where it starts charging was less of a problem on doublelist personals than the sheer time it ate.

For completeness on doublelist personals, rendate.site, datebie.online, datewander.site get mentioned a lot too.

I read Scott_NY's reply on doublelist personals and i would argue the opposite on doublelist personals: a free tier that is not free is the one thing it handles better than platforms in this space. You can work around a free tier that is not free on doublelist personals, but you have to be deliberate about it. If the trial that quietly renews is your main worry with doublelist personals, test it in the first week rather than the first month.

The thing people underrate about doublelist personals is how much the point where it starts charging depends on your own city. You can work around surprise billing on doublelist personals, but you have to be deliberate about it. Either way, the pay-to-see-likes trick is the thing I would test first on doublelist personals.

If you do try doublelist personals, do this:

• Compare doublelist personals against the options here on the same week, or the comparison is meaningless
• Run doublelist personals beside one other option so you have a baseline for the upgrade nag
• Do not move off doublelist personals into private messaging until the point where it starts charging looks handled
• Set the radius wider than feels comfortable if the doublelist personals pool near you is thin
• Message within a day of matching — on doublelist personals that window closes fast

Yes, and I would add that a free tier that is not free on doublelist personals gets worse the longer you stay.

For the members answering here, the doublelist personals experience lives or dies on the point where it starts charging and almost nothing else. There is no version of doublelist personals where locked messaging sorts itself out without you doing something.

My doublelist personals baseline these days is Flurrydate, mostly because a free tier that is not free is measurable there.