@Dominic — broadly with you, with one caveat: three weeks into the mingle dating site the pattern was clear: photo quality moves the needle more than the bio, but that is one person's read. The advice I would give the typical user about the mingle dating site is unglamorous: test it for a week before committing, then reassess. For comparison I also tried Datebound, which handles the same problem differently.
The mingle dating site is the thing I keep going back and forth on, mostly because of overall consistency. People overstate day-to-day usability on the mingle dating site and understate how much the paid tier mostly buys you visibility, not matches. The mingle dating site is fine on the surface; mingle dating site is where it falls apart, and everything after that is cosmetic.
- Test it for a week before committing before you judge the pool
- Low effort, high signal: fill the profile out properly first with notifications off
- Screenshot the pricing before you agree to anything on a weekday and again at the weekend
- Check activity at different hours
Still undecided on the mingle dating site overall, but that is where I am for now.