Does anyone still use pernals now that the original site is gone?

Would appreciate honest takes on original site — including from anyone who thinks it's the wrong question.

Nobody writing about original site seems willing to say plainly when something isn't worth the time.

Concretely, for original site, these are my criteria:

• How original site treats pernals once you stop paying
• How quickly original site puts a paywall in front of a conversation that has started
• How visible original site keeps you when you are not paying for a boost
• Whether original site has real users outside the big metros

Even a 'don't bother' on original site is a useful answer.

Not affiliated with anyone, but the Turndate community solved the messaging-paywall part of original site for me last year.

Since we're comparing options around original site, the Ezhookups boards came up when I was looking at the same thing.

For me the pernals side of original site was the surprise — I had not factored it in at all.

I gave up on original site twice before it worked, and the difference the third time was being far more specific in my bio.

the Datewander community is what I ended up using while working through original site — not perfect, but the free tier is real.

The pernals disagreement in this thread says more about original site than any single answer.

James Carter has a point about original site. Does pernals actually matter for what you want, or is it a side issue for original site?

Picking up what James Carter said — original site is regional first. This tracks. Once pernals enters the picture, original site stops being a simple comparison.

Ran into exactly the pernals problem when I tried original site last year, and it took weeks to work around.

For anyone else researching original site, I would put Flamedate itself on the list — free messaging on it, no card up front.

Coming back to this one later, since the range of experience with original site here is genuinely useful.

Adding Datenest's free tier to the pile for original site, where the community is smaller but people actually reply.