Well my feelings may have come across rather bluntly in my title so I apologize for my brevity but I will at least state my case to the extent such a thing is possible.
First off I am not a "paying member"; so, as is so often the case in these bait and switch... Excuse me "dating sites" I suspect $#*!ery like it's second nature. God forbid people pursue physical/emotional happiness via the once "free" internet without pulling the ol' plastic out of the wallet. So I will focus on two things here in the next couple paragraphs that I feel are only worth my energy to save fellow humans (particularly men) from falling into this polluted fishing hole.
First off, obviously, the aforementioned ocean between the perfectly reasonable and detailed profile you can make "for free" (cause no one pays internet bills right) and the "upgraded status." Now I fell into this on adultfriendfinder.com because their restrictions are far more extreme; if you don't pay a dime, you ain't doing jack, and if you DO, be prepared to pay more to get a realistic chance at any kind of meaningful human interaction on the regular. POF let's you make a profile that should serve its purpose and end there but of course greed rears its ever present ugly head, and paying them for various memberships supposedly gets you more visible and your messages go to the top.
Nevermind that a message sent should be immediately visible regardless. They could come up with a dozen other perks for the desperate suckers with loose wallets. Similarly to my experience in AFF, I used a control group of hideous women, messaged them nice and inoffensive things and... Nada. No I'm not a male model but I'm far from a gremlin. Because occasionally women (some admittedly decent but far from local? And wtf there?) sent me messages seemingly without issue. Basically, pay to get thru. I call bs. Craigslist never made you pay to message for a job, housing, etc. things that are true life necessities so you don't, ya know, starve and die homeless. These dating sites have to cut the $#*!.
That got more long-winded than I wanted so regarding the actual "women" you may actually communicate with to varying degrees on POF... well. I'll save my breath and refer you to a review below posted by one "Waller K." The man has a way with words regarding that topic and there are certainly many entitled females on the site who deserve every cutting syllable and then some. Online datings quite the $#*! show. I guess if I never relocate I have to be content with the local drug addicted barfly trash I have been through and trying to get away from. Alas, happy fishing should you choose to do so anyway.