Scott_T is half right, but the other half matters. once I stopped worrying about the signal-to-noise ratio, first message got a lot simpler. You cannot really talk about first message without talking about whether it gets out of your way.
Two people can have opposite results with first message purely because of the conversion from match to conversation.
I'd put whether it leads anywhere above almost everything else when it comes to first message.
The rules I settled on for first message:
- allow a couple of weekends before deciding anything about first message
- budget a fortnight before deciding anything about first message
- plan for a full month before deciding anything about first message
I would put how quickly you get going above almost everything else when it comes to first message. That is roughly where I landed on good first message on dating app.
I compared a few on first message and Datelink recently came out ahead for me.