Does anyone know what happened to the strilchat app? I can't find it anywhere.

Text-based adult interaction is genuinely underrated. There's something about the anonymity and the pacing of a good chat that you don't get from video. That said, most of the free platforms are absolutely crawling with bots and the moderation is basically nonexistent.

I've been trying different platforms for months now—some IRC remnants, a couple web-based options, a few Discord servers. The quality varies enormously. The best ones have some barrier to entry (even something small like a brief registration process) that keeps the worst actors out.

What are people using that actually has real users behind the keyboards? I don't mind paying a small amount if it means I'm actually talking to a person.

Great thread. This is exactly the kind of honest discussion that's missing from most review sites.

Let me break down what I've learned the hard way:

Response rate is everything. A smaller platform where people actually reply beats a huge one where messages disappear into the void.

That's my take anyway—curious if others have had different results.

Long-time lurker here but this one I actually have useful things to say about.

Response rate is everything. A smaller platform where people actually reply beats a huge one where messages disappear into the void.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants more detail on any of these.

Let me break down what I've learned the hard way:

The gender ratio problem is real on most platforms. Apps that have done something creative about it tend to have better communities overall.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants more detail on any of these.

Good timing on this thread—I was just thinking about this last week.

The key is managing expectations from the start. Free platforms exist on a spectrum from 'actually free' to 'free for 48 hours then you're locked out.' You need to read the fine print before investing time in a profile.

That's my take anyway—curious if others have had different results.

This is something I've thought about a lot. Let me lay out a more complete picture.

• Free doesn't always mean free—look for trial periods with auto-renewal
• Profile verification reduces bot ratios significantly
• Smaller communities often have better engagement than huge platforms
• Privacy settings matter—always check what's public by default
• Response rate > profile count: 50 active users beats 50,000 ghosts

Also worth having in your toolkit: souldate.site for one type of thing and datingfly.online for another—they're not identical and knowing the difference saves you from frustration.

Hopefully some of this is useful. Happy to answer follow-ups.

Speaking from experience on this one:

The key is managing expectations from the start. Free platforms exist on a spectrum from 'actually free' to 'free for 48 hours then you're locked out.' You need to read the fine print before investing time in a profile.

A few others worth knowing about if you haven't come across them yet: flurrydate.online, datelink.online. Each has a different strength so it's worth checking which fits your situation.

Take it or leave it, but those are the platforms that have actually worked for me.

Anyone who says there's one perfect platform for everything is trying to sell you something. It really depends on your location and what you're looking for.

Also seen people mention datenest.site in similar threads.

Speaking from experience on this one:

Video verification before meeting anyone in person is non-negotiable at this point. Ten minutes on a live call tells you more than a week of texting.

One thing worth mentioning is Flurrydate—it has a different approach to matching that I think deserves more attention. The interface is cleaner than most and it doesn't bury everything behind a hard paywall immediately.

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants more detail on any of these.