I keep seeing different opinions on this so I wanted to get some real firsthand experiences. The messaging style matters a lot more than people think. Generic openers get ignored every single time.
I started being way more specific in my location settings and match quality improved noticeably. Real talk — the female-to-male ratio on most platforms is still pretty skewed no matter what they advertise.
The paid sites at least weed out some of the tire kickers. Free sites tend to attract more bots.