It's really annoying how apps like Bumble and Plenty of Fish seem to have 24 hour waits after you use up all your likes; because it takes time, it gets later every day until you end up having to skip a whole day cos it comes back at like bedtime.

Started using Happn as well; seems like a good one, no like limit that I can find, but as it's based on crossing paths with folks and I hardly go out I ran out of people to swipe on in like 15 minutes haha

Well, just got back from my first date since March. So that's progress.

She's super nice but I'm just not attracted to her physically, so I'll try to be friends with her. I get the feeling she wants more than that though so I'll have to let her down easy which I hate as it makes me anxiety go into overdrive; I feel terrible when I make others feel bad.

It was a big step forward for me to meet her, it's my first in-person meeting with a non family member in months and I was really scared with my OCD in overdrive as it is, but I managed somehow.

I've matched with a few hotties over the last couple weeks but they never seem to message back, I'm still not nailing those opening lines it seems.

Keep at it, eventually you wont feel anxious at all, given the practice and the "mundanicity" of it, given that you would have gone through that multiple times.

As for opening lines, why not start with a subject that you like? Not very different from amking a thread here. See things she likes that you have in common, and just start the conversation with a question like " So how about that match the other day huh? That was a really horrible move by that team. I love watching football, but that makes me want to go play for them!" or something like it

Better than start with a simple hello, or trying to be funny.

I'll be honest here.

The hotties general end up not so hotties when they get older.

What I found is women that are a solid 6-8 (without makeup) stay at that. Women that we perceive to be a 9/10 generally by their mid 30s end up looking like a 4-5. 

If they have an interesting personality and can hold a conversation, that is more attractive in a long term relationship then a 9/10 hottie. Most relationships that I found in my circles to last long are once that were not born out of lust but other time. The ones that were lust driven ended when the magic as they call it wore off. 

Did her pictures not match reality?

Attractive girls are in online dating 9/10 times spam for Instagram/onlyfans or prostitutes.

Yeah she looked cuter in her photos and the angles kinda hid that she was overweight which I'm not into. Still, at least I've hopefully made a new friend.

Atm I'm honestly more motivated by lust than a desire for a serious long term relationship; I wouldn't be opposed to the latter if it naturally developed, but I'm foremost looking more for something casual. It's been too damn long.

That could be COVID fat. Lot of people put it on when the gyms were closed for months in Melbourne. 

Yeah, I know I certainly did haha, I'm trying to work it off now. She seems like a really nice person though so I'm glad she's taken it well and is cool to be friends. I get the feeling she was hoping for more but she was a good sport.

Dating apps/sites are a complete waste of time, 80 to 90% of guys get no matches. Paying for upgrades is a waste of money and will not make any difference. The only matches most of us guys get are from bots or scammers. 

From what I've seen, essentially 100% of people that are willing to take advice and put work into online dating have success with it.  Its people that refuse to listen to the people that are good at, refuse to date people that aren't 9/10, or won't put in any work that don't do well.  I've obviously only seen a handful of people directly.  But, through the grapevine it has become very clear to me that online dating works for anyone that has reasonable standards and is open to advice.  

If you only swipe (or message) 3 hot chicks per day, and you're not super attractive (either physically or on paper) yourself, that's not going to work.  You have to hit 50 or 100 people per day.  If you haven't dated lately, you have to go out with anyone that will agree to date you so that you can get some practice.  If you're a 2/10, you can't expect to land a 7 or 8.  Do those things, get good pictures, work on profile language, change your messaging text until you find stuff that works, put an hour a day into it, and you'll get some action.  Do that long enough, and you'll get better and better, and you'll be able to move up in quality of person that you're dating.