The phone app has a completely obscure way to "add" a language parter under "contacts," so of course, all the phone app newbies just post a random "do u wanna chat?" message on the discussion board.

As a cynical view, italki might want members to fail to find conversation partners.  Out of frustration, a certain percentage will pay for lessons and italki will get a commission.

I am about to give up browsing the discussions.  There's no point.

Chris

You make a valid case when you say that italki may wish to have language partners fail in their search for a partner.
After all, italki is a business and offering free services is nothing more than a financial drain on the business, so why would they invest more time, effort, personnel and costs to improve a service that provides no return on investment (ROI).

You're absolutely right that the Discussion section offers very few interesting discussions.

Ten years ago, the Discussion section was an interesting, lively forum, but many good members have been banned or simply gave up on the Discussion/Language Exchange section.

Unfortunate...