Match is one of the best of the OLD sites that minimizes or even eliminates bot/fake ads. The feature you're talking about is about the only additional feature I pay for and is worth anything, because it keeps a line of communication open to all women on the site, not just a narrow band of paid subscribers.
This is why I told you earlier to place your ad and forget it. Check in once a day and move on in real life. You're chasing ghosts and wasting time by combing through hundreds of ads and trying to initiate contact with them; older profiles/women who haven't logged in for weeks, women who signed up as a gag or on a dare, women who are just looking for orbiters, women swamped by 100s of hungry guys just like you.... fvck all that.
You have to learn how to draw them into you, rather than work off of the mercy of them "giving you a shot or a chance".
Dave, your pictures do about 80% of the work in this online medium. The content of your ad just gives them a little nudge of influence to contact you. This is why I told you earlier that if your ad doesn't seem to be working, change your pictures up before changing anything else.
Yes, yes, I know.... you say you look like crap in pictures.... you're not photogenic. Well guess what, neither am I. It is very very hard for me to find a photograph that accurately reflects what I look like in person. Very difficult. So I very much understand where you are coming from.
I VERY STRONGLY SUGGEST you make use of a site called Photofeeler.com.
I strongly suggest it for you, not only because you need an unbiased opinion on your photos/looks, but because you also very much need to know precisely how you are seen in the eyes of random women who don't know a god damn thing about you.
Photofeeler members rank your pics on 3 facets:
1) Smart/intelligent looking
2) Trustworthy looking
3) Attractiveness
This is going to tell you everything you need to know about why you are attracting or not attracting women in OLD, or even IRL, and which picture you should be using as the main pic on your profile. The site allows you to set the people providing feedback on your photo only to women within a certain age range. Make use of that.
If you want those 7+ women to interact with you, you should be scoring 80% or higher on the attractiveness scale and, optimally, 60%+ in intelligence & trustworthiness.
If you want 8's & 9's, it would be optimal using a photo that ranks 90%+ in attraction and 70%+ in the other features.
You're very likely going to have to try a lot of different photos to hit those numbers, but once you do, I can assure you Match will not be a waste of time. Those women will not only write back to you, they will begin to initiate.