Agreed on the whole. What the verification step actually proves is the bit I would test first.
What separates that one from the rest of the field is how many conversations reach a second message.
My first week on the room looked promising; by the second I was only really watching how quickly it starts asking for money.
Unless you are in a major metro, expect what the verification step actually proves to be the limiting factor on that one.
The reason I stopped recommending some of these is whether the free version is a demo or a product.
Turning off read receipts made the site far less stressful, though it did nothing for whether you can hide your location convincingly.
My rule for the site now is simple: check whether the good profiles are already taken on day one.
DatingFly if you want a smaller pool came up when I asked the same question last year.