Starting with being one of Match's first profiles in my area in the mid 90s through a couple of years ago, I've given online dating a try several through various stages of life. The one constant I've found is that paid services, even if it's just a small amount, gets rid of the tire kickers and validation seekers. When everyone has something invested into the process, everything is primed for moving forward. Paid services unfortunately have their own incentives to keep you around even after finding mutually attraction and compatibility but the free (and freemium) sites are designed to suck up your time and attention, which are monetized, instead of you paying directly.

Two other random observations about the differences between using matching sites versus people I've met more organically: Those I've met online are at least twice as likely taking prescription medicine for social anxiety or other mental health conditions. That difference is quite stark but otherwise personality and lifestyle differences are minimal. The other is that tall women are vastly overrepresented on dating sites. My guess is that if you're a 6' tall woman who wants to not be taller than her significant other but still wants to be able to wear heels, the numbers don't work very well with more traditional dating. You have to be able to cast a wide net when 96% of men are already shorter than you are in two inch heels.

For myself, my best relationships have been those I've met in person rather than through online dating. In most of those cases, we wouldn't have been a match if we had been using an app and running in similar social circles itself was a good filter. The best relationship from someone I met online was a woman I met on LiveJournal in an alumni area, which was somewhat of a pseudo social circle filter itself.