I joined in February and did my first sit in March. THS has worked well for me, too.
I do not know you personally but by going on your posts here on the forum I would say you have researched the site well and know what and how to navigate it. To me, that is the difference. We are now getting members (on both sides) who see the adverts, believe the adverts and join without any additional research. Trying to communicate the supposedly ethos of THS is impossible and must cause themselves a lot of problems.
Ditto what I replied to pietkuip.
That is true, but I started reading the forum only in May, after six sits that had gone very well. Sure, I was naïve about all the things that could have gone wrong. Maybe if I had started reading the forum before sitting, I would not have dared!
The experience that I had was with different hospex sites, for couchsurfing and for home exchanges. There I knew better what could go wrong, and I assumed that THS would better. And it is, I think.
I joined because I had bought an incredibly inexpensive 2-month Interrail ticket and I did not feel for being house guest that many days. It would be exhausting. But I hardly knew anything about what can go wrong with pets, that is what I learned about when reading here.