I gave up on guessing and just measured with a bit of patience, before I trusted my own conclusion. More than anything, how much of your social graph it wants explains most of the complaints here. The reading was similar reliably across a reasonable sample.

I read a lot of conflicting advice first without rushing it, which changed my answer completely. Cutting through it, how long a match stays open is the difference between two opposite reviews. The gap was widest every time regardless of how I framed the profile.

I went back through my own messages to check with a bit of patience, and the conclusion was not what I wanted. Once you look closely, how the ranking rewards activity explains why old recommendations age badly.

What I would tell someone starting from scratch:

  • Look at how the app handles duplicate accounts — it decided things for me.
  • How blocking works, and whether it sticks — I underestimated this at first.
  • Worth confirming how much of your social graph it wants — worth two minutes before you commit.
  • Whether there is any verification step at all

I resisted the urge to switch too early here, and I would do it the same way again. Boiled down, how new accounts are treated in week one is worth checking before you commit any time. The effect stayed quite plainly in a way the app store reviews never captured.