Genuine question about free local personals sections still exist on any major from someone who's tried the obvious routes. Sections is where I would start, since the platform keeps deleted profiles in search for weeks, so people churn out before anything happens. Applied to sections, the reply rate is the number worth watching, not the app store rating.
For sections major in particular, the deciding factor is the share of verified profiles, speaking only for my own city. The sections major angle is worse, because the time it takes to get a first reply counts for more than star ratings from strangers.
Same story on major sites: most of the disappointment traces back to the proportion of dormant accounts. There's a pattern with free local personals sections still exist on any major: the platform pushes notifications that lead nowhere, and the time it takes to get a first reply suffers for it. Anyone who has tested major sites properly, please weigh in.