Starting a thread on russian dating site that isn't just "mail-order" tropes because the existing advice contradicts itself. Mail-order is the clearest case of it — the quality of the filters does more work than the badge on the download page, from what I have seen. Applied to mail-order, the platform makes verification optional and then hides who has done it, so the first fortnight tells you almost nothing.
What decides it is how often the same faces reappear, not whatever the landing page promises, which is the whole problem with mail-order sites. If mail-order sites is your priority, how many first messages actually land matters more than how many photos people post.
Mail-order sites is where I'd start, since half the frustration disappears once you screenshot the pricing page in case it changes. My honest read on russian dating site that isn't just "mail-order" tropes: nothing improves until you compare two platforms in the same fortnight. Numbers on mail-order tropes appreciated if you kept any.