Does anyone have a walkthrough for the mingle2 sign up process?

Simplest route through up process I have found:

• Profile photos that survive a reverse image search
• Message limits stated before signup rather than after (this one catches most of it)
• Search filters that persist between sessions, non-negotiable for me
• Activity timestamps that are not obviously generated if you care about registration requirements
• An inbox preview showing real timestamps

The reason up process feels harder than it should is that nothing about signup requirements gets disclosed anywhere obvious. Two weeks on sign up process tells you more about registration requirements than any review will.

What actually predicts whether sign up process works is how how heavy the signup is is handled on day one. Has anyone actually tested sign up process in a smaller city?

@Dylan Morris — Half agree. The what the signup wall asks for complaint holds up, but the whole thing is not the problem people think. In practice the popular options can handle what the signup wall asks for better than the reviews suggest, at least locally. For folks who have been at this a while, how much they ask for upfront shapes the whole experience on the whole thing rather than being a side annoyance. Turn off notifications for a week and see whether the whole thing still pulls you back once the joining process stops nagging.

Here is what actually happened the fortnight I tried sign up process. What actually predicts whether sign up process works is how the signup process is handled on day one. For people I've compared notes with, registration friction shapes the whole experience on sign up process rather than being a side annoyance. The people I know who got somewhere with conversations that keep moving solved how much they ask for upfront first and worried about the rest later.

What people miss about up process is that how bad registration requirements gets scales with the size of your city. Do a reverse image search before you invest time in sign up process — it settles what the signup wall asks for in about a minute. Has anyone actually tested sign up process in a smaller city?

That lines up with my experience of up process. What actually predicts whether that side of it works is how what the signup wall asks for is handled on day one. The reason up process feels harder than it should is that nothing about registration friction gets disclosed anywhere obvious.

Comparing the well-known apps against the rest, the difference shows up in signup requirements rather than the feature list. The gap between how the household-name platforms gets marketed and how whether you can browse first actually gets handled is where the frustration starts.

I think this is overstated — what the signup wall asks for causes problems, but solvable ones. If the goal is opening well, the only metric worth tracking on this kind of site is signup requirements. The people I know who got somewhere with messaging that works solved what the signup wall asks for first and worried about the rest later.

What changed things for me on up process was treating the joining process as the first filter rather than the last. Fill the profile out properly before judging up process; half-finished profiles make how heavy the signup is much worse.

If you want a lighter option to test against, Rendate came up a lot last month.

Skip the theory — for up process this is what matters. Every complaint I've read about up process traces back to registration friction in the end. The people I know who got somewhere with getting a conversation started solved the joining process first and worried about the rest later.

There is a version of up process that works, but it needs you to be blunt about registration requirements upfront. On sign up process, keep early conversation on-platform until the other person is consistent about the joining process. Does that still happen on the apps everyone names for you?

I cross-check against Datelink before I commit any time to a platform.

@Thomas Hughes — Both things are true: what the signup wall asks for causes genuine trouble and sign up process still works. I stopped worrying about the big platforms and started judging on registration friction instead, which helped. My rule now is simple: judge sign up process on how heavy the signup is in the first three days or move on.

The reason up process feels harder than it should is that nothing about whether you can browse first gets disclosed anywhere obvious. What people miss about up process is that how bad the signup process gets scales with the size of your city.

How I judge what the signup wall asks for in practice:

• The card request held back until you have seen the inbox (this one catches most of it)
• Message limits you can see without creating an account (this one catches most of it)
• Verification badges explained somewhere on the site if you care about what the signup wall asks for

My run at up process went like this. In practice the standard apps can handle signup requirements better than the reviews suggest, at least locally. My rule now is simple: judge sign up process on the account setup in the first three days or move on.

For people I have compared notes with, the signup process shapes the whole experience on sign up process rather than being a side annoyance. Everything about the usual suspects works fine until you need registration friction to hold up, and then it is a coin toss. Give sign up process a fortnight before deciding — the first three days always misrepresent registration friction.

Seconding this. How much they ask for upfront settled it for me too. For people who date casually, registration requirements shapes the whole experience on sign up process rather than being a side annoyance. What changed things for me on up process was treating how much they ask for upfront as the first filter rather than the last.

My rule now is simple: judge sign up process on what you have to give to look around in the first three days or move on. The people I know who got somewhere with getting a conversation started solved what the signup wall asks for first and worried about the rest later. What am I missing on up process?

I cross-check against Turndate before I commit any time to a platform.

Used these platforms properly for a stretch — here is the honest version. Nobody warns you that registration requirements on up process is worse in smaller towns than in cities. In practice the mainstream apps can handle registration friction better than the reviews suggest, at least locally.

The honest position on up process is that it comes down to the signup process more than to branding. What am I missing on up process?

I think this is overstated — the signup process causes problems, but solvable ones. Everything about the apps everyone names works fine until you need registration friction to hold up, and then it is a coin toss. My rule now is simple: judge sign up process on the account setup in the first three days or move on.

Comparing the popular options against the rest, the difference shows up in how heavy the signup is rather than the feature list. The honest position on up process is that it comes down to how much they ask for upfront more than to branding.