I often don’t give second dates and am almost always asked for one. 

I do this because I have a particularly effective filtering system. I’m not afraid to ask serious or difficult questions (could be an age thing) upfront and usually I can gauge if I’m potentially compatible with a man based on his answer.

For example, if a man gives me a non committal answer or avoids answering the question directly when I talk about anything related to commitment or marriage, I know he’s not for me. I don’t need to ask a man if he wants to marry me or in the next year to gauge how he feels about the idea of serious relationships. If a man has social or political views that I find unacceptable, I don’t hope to change him. A lot of these things aren’t serious red flags, just inherent incompatibility. But if you’re not willing to ask the difficult questions, then you’re unlikely to get much out of your dates and may be stuck going on multiple dates with someone you have no potential future with.