There's a certain irony that you're suggesting I disregard the opinions of strangers in order to go out and make friends with some strangers. Until the OP ment

There's a certain irony that you're suggesting I disregard the opinions of strangers in order to go out and make friends with some strangers. Until the OP mentioned it, I had no idea that Bumble had a friend finding feature. It's a dating app, its advertising shows dating as its function. So I can't say I'd blame anyone that did judge me unreasonably, to be honest. It's not necessarily that fair, but we don't get to make our own rules of social interaction.