I read boards like this one every day for a year before making an account anywhere. Not out of fear exactly. More that I wanted to know what the normal version of this looked like before performing an embarrassing beginner's version of it in public. I now know a great deal about how people here talk and almost nothing about what any of it feels like.
Thirty seven, west London, and the only practical thing I have done is meet somebody once, in daylight, for an hour, which was pleasant and unremarkable and led nowhere. That is my entire history.
The reading did teach me one useful thing about platforms. The places built on joining reward a year of quiet attention with absolutely nothing, because they have no way of seeing it. The places built on adverts at least let a year of reading turn into a piece of writing that somebody can answer.
I lean towards submitting and I am not certain, and I would rather say that plainly than pick a word to look tidy.
Not looking for anybody who wants to accelerate that decision on my behalf. Not looking for a teacher who is actually recruiting. And not looking to spend another year reading, which is the real reason I am writing this now rather than next spring.