I've been on Zoosk for 5 months as a paying member. As a whole I find the site quite juvenile. My biggest complaint is that there are no instructions to help you understand exactly how the different features work. As others have said Zoosk matches you with their parameters. Yes you can do an advanced search using your own criteria, but find it's the same people (men in my case) Most of my "Smart Picks" have been 10 years older than me. Not what I'm looking for... The "carousel" simply gives you a photo, an age and a location. I guess this is their answer to Tinder. Also if you look at who viewed you, it indicates to them that you have viewed them. Not so, but have gotten creepy responses from men who think I'm interested. Note, if you have sent 6 messages and the other person has not responded, they are not interested in you! I have met 2 great guys, one I am now friends with (we didn't work as a couple) and another who is great but 100 miles apart. I'm sorry for those of you that have had to deal with scammers... they really suck. But they also fish on the free sites. That being said I'm not renewing my membership and will try elsewhere! Good Luck everybody!