Same as Brianna, with one difference. the part people underrate about populated free is vetting people properly.
I'd put the free-vs-paid gap above almost everything else when it comes to populated free. Once I stopped worrying about what it actually costs, populated free got a lot simpler. Nobody warns you that populated free depends so heavily on how much to share early on.
I'd put how much to share early on above almost everything else when it comes to populated free.
Most of the frustration with populated free traces back to how careful to be. If you try most populated free sexy chat rooms during the daytime, give it longer than you think you need.
I still keep an account on what Datebound does purely for populated free.