What happened to the old sexxhat forums?

This has been on my mind lately. What happened to the old sexxhat forums? Hoping some of you have firsthand experience.

I think this is a question a lot of people have but nobody wants to ask out loud. The stigma around these topics means the actual useful information gets buried under a pile of judgmental noise.

So here I am asking directly. Happy to share what I found on my end once I hear from a few more people — I don't want to bias the thread before others weigh in.

Main things I want to know:

• Is the user base actually active or are we talking ghost profiles?
• How hard is verification? Does anyone actually get screened?
• What's the safety situation like for setting up meets?
• Any horror stories or cautionary tales worth knowing?

Appreciate any honest input.

Here's my experience broken down:

The mainstream apps (

• Facebook Dating
• Thursday
• Hinge
• Tinder

) all have free tiers but with varying levels of usefulness. None are terrible, none are perfect.

The more niche options like Datelink.online and Datescout.site tend to have smaller but more focused user bases. For certain things that's actually better than volume.

Biggest advice: don't pay for more than one platform at a time. Test, assess, then decide.

Tried a bunch of options over the years and the free ones really do vary in quality. Some are absolutely bot-infested, others are surprisingly active.

The honest truth is that Datelink was better than I expected given that it doesn't push you to pay right away. Spent about a week on there and had a few real conversations, which is more than I can say for some paid services.

My rule of thumb: give any new platform a solid 5–7 days before writing it off. First impressions on these sites can be misleading.

Same question I had a few months ago. Did a lot of research and finally settled on something that worked for me.

This is something I researched pretty heavily a while back. Here's the short version of what I found:

The platforms that don't require a card up front tend to be better about privacy too, which matters more than people realize. You don't want your billing info tied to a site that might have questionable data practices.

Some things to watch for:

• Does it require a credit card just to create an account? Red flag.
• Can you browse profiles before matching? Good sign.
• Is there a clear cancellation process described somewhere? Important.
• Does it have real user reviews on third-party sites? Look those up.

I checked out Ezhookups at some point and it cleared most of those boxes. Worth at least a free account to explore.

Good question and one I've asked myself. The honest answer is it really depends on your area and what you're looking for specifically.

I've had decent luck being patient and not paying upfront. The platforms that are worth your time don't typically need to pressure you into buying anything before you've seen real value.

Datescout.site gets mentioned a lot in threads like this one. I'd add it to your research list.

Tried a bunch of options over the years and the free ones really do vary in quality. Some are absolutely bot-infested, others are surprisingly active.

The honest truth is that Turndate was better than I expected given that it doesn't push you to pay right away. Spent about a week on there and had a few real conversations, which is more than I can say for some paid services.

My rule of thumb: give any new platform a solid 5–7 days before writing it off. First impressions on these sites can be misleading.

Good thread, been wondering about this myself. Following for more responses.