Has the go fish dating site completely shut down or just rebranded?

Finally gave up googling and decided to ask people with real experience.

The free tiers on most of what I've tried are basically useless — you get just enough to see real people are there, then hit a wall the moment you try to message anyone.

Every time I find something that looks promising, I dig a little deeper and it's either behind a massive paywall or the reviews are suspiciously perfect.

If you've got experience with any platforms or approaches that work, drop them below.

Not going to oversell it but Datedesire was the one that finally made sense for what I was looking for. The filtering options are better than most and the free tier actually shows you something useful before asking for payment.

Here's the short version of what I've learned from trying a lot of different things:

Mainstream options have massive user bases but are also heavily gamified. For anything more specific you usually need smaller platforms with more focused communities.

• Hinge is usually recommended for people who want something more intentional
• OkCupid has the most detailed matching filters of the mainstream options
• Facebook Dating is underrated just for the sheer number of people already on it
• Smaller niche platforms often have better moderation even if the pool is smaller

Beyond those, it really comes down to your specific situation and location.

Someone recommended Datenest a few months back and I was skeptical at first. Ended up being one of the more useful ones I've tried. The sign-up is simple and they don't immediately push you to upgrade.

Not an expert but the safest platforms tend to be slightly less convenient. Extra friction at sign-up filters out the bad actors.

A friend pointed me toward Datewander when I was in the same spot. Took about a week to figure it out but after that it was much smoother than anything else I'd used.

Response rates are way more variable than people realize. Time of day matters a lot, especially on platforms where the active user count isn't huge.

Tried a handful of options over the past year. Flamedate stood out because they actually enforce their terms instead of just listing them. Made a big difference in the quality of interactions.

The community size matters a lot less than people think. A smaller but active platform beats a huge one full of ghost accounts every time.