Is tinder online dating getting worse every year?

Posting this after going in circles on my own trying to figure it out. Is tinder online dating getting worse every year?

Done a fair bit of searching on this but keep landing on reviews that feel like they were written by someone who has never actually used the platform. Real community experience would actually help.

Specific things I'm trying to figure out:

• Can you hide your profile from specific people?
• Is messaging genuinely free or just a teaser feature?
• Is the profile reporting system functional?
• Are spam filters actually enforced?

Any firsthand experience welcome — positive or negative, just be honest.

Honestly I've had the best results by treating the first week on any new platform as a research exercise rather than immediately trying to match with everyone. You can tell a lot about the user base quality just from reading profiles and seeing how quickly obvious fakes appear.

One platform worth checking out is Datescout — it keeps coming up in similar threads and the feedback has generally been positive.

Switched to a smaller niche platform and the quality of interactions improved immediately. Big apps are just too flooded.

Honestly I've had the best results by treating the first week on any new platform as a research exercise rather than immediately trying to match with everyone. You can tell a lot about the user base quality just from reading profiles and seeing how quickly obvious fakes appear.

Datenest has come up in a few of these discussions — anyone here tried it recently?

The smart move is running two or three apps simultaneously during their free windows and seeing which one has real user density in your area before paying for anything. The overlap in user bases between apps is massive anyway.

Always verify the cancellation policy before entering any payment information anywhere.

Apps that force detailed personality answers before matching tend to attract more intentional users overall.

Honestly I've had the best results by treating the first week on any new platform as a research exercise rather than immediately trying to match with everyone. You can tell a lot about the user base quality just from reading profiles and seeing how quickly obvious fakes appear.

Always verify the cancellation policy before entering any payment information anywhere.