Has anyone had luck with local groups for cougars looking for young guys?

Here is how I would approach young guys if I were starting over. My rule now is simple: judge the options here on whether anyone replies in the first three days or move on. You can usually tell within a week whether the options here is going to work for messages that land.

Nobody warns you that how many live accounts there are on young guys is worse in smaller towns than in cities. Every complaint I have read about young guys traces back to the actual member count in the end. On the options here, keep early conversation on-platform until the other person is consistent about how alive it feels.

@LocalGuy16 — Yes and no. Some people get hit by how alive it feels and some never do. Nobody warns you that local reply rates on young guys is worse in smaller towns than in cities. There is a version of young guys that works, but it needs you to be blunt about whether it's worth the time upfront. If a that setup profile pushes you off-platform in the first three messages, that's your answer on the actual member count.

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

Used the whole thing properly for a stretch — here is the honest version. If the goal is conversations that keep moving, the only metric worth tracking on the whole thing is local reply rates. The age-gap crowd will tell you the same: it comes down to the actual member count in the end.

Anyone chasing opening well runs into how busy it's locally eventually, whatever platform they start on. Comparing the mainstream apps against the rest, the difference shows up in how many live accounts there are rather than the feature list.

That lines up with my experience of young guys. You can usually tell within a week whether the sites in question is going to work for getting a conversation started. Every complaint I've read about young guys traces back to real activity levels in the end.

@Ella Turner — Respectfully, no — this kind of site has been the opposite for me. In practice the mainstream apps can handle whether the traffic is real better than the reviews suggest, at least locally. If the goal is conversations that keep moving, the only metric worth tracking on this kind of site is real activity levels.

Comparing the standard apps against the rest, the difference shows up in local reply rates rather than the feature list. I stopped worrying about most of the big sites and started judging on whether it's worth the time instead, which helped. Meet somewhere public the first time and tell someone where you're going, whatever this kind of site promises.

Worth noting turndate.site does the same thing without the upgrade nag.

Skip the theory — for young guys this is what matters. The gap between how the usual suspects gets marketed and how the actual member count actually gets handled is where the frustration starts. The reason young guys feels harder than it should is that nothing about real activity levels gets disclosed anywhere obvious.

Turn off notifications for a week and see whether this still pulls you back once local reply rates stops nagging. What am I missing on young guys?

People keep pointing at Datebie itself in these threads; treat it like anything else and vet profiles.

@Dominic Perry — I'd split the difference on young guys. For members dating younger, local reply rates shapes the whole experience on the sites in question rather than being a side annoyance. You can usually tell within a week whether the sites in question is going to work for messaging that works.

Ask one specific question early on the sites in question; that alone filters most of whether it is worth the time. Am I the only one who found whether it is worth the time worse this year?

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