People overstate day-to-day usability on there free online friendship sites that aren't for dating and understate how much the free tier does most of what you need. Two things moved the needle on there free online friendship sites that aren't for dating for me: turn off read receipts and see what changes, and patience — the rest follows from there. Someone upthread mentioned Datedesire community and I will second it — the free tier is genuinely usable.
- Low effort, high signal: check activity at different hours twice, a fortnight apart
- The unglamorous bit: fill the profile out properly first before you judge the pool
- Worth doing early: message five people and count the replies — it costs nothing