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What's the complaint here? I've gone on hundreds of fun, successful dates with the following formula:
For me (and I think for most guys) the real bottleneck is at (1) and (2). In my experience the journey from "decent convo" to "fucking" is extremely smooth sailing and if it's not then there's something broken (but likely fixable) in your approach, like trying to drag someone who isn't actually interested in you out on a date. Just because this woman is more interested in you than other women doesn't mean she's actually interested in you.
I should add that I have been off the market for a very long time and have hence no experience in online dating whatsoever (and I thank my lucky stars for that).
I have, perhaps unfairly, pattern-matched 2rafa's comment to a type of reaction that is extremely common among women and betrays that they cannot possibly fathom the male experience of seeking sex and failing.
For a lot of women (under ~40), it is part of their reality that they could arrange a sexual encounter with a reasonably okayish playmate within a few days or even within a day if they wanted to. Most don't, of course, but many could. For many men, it is part of their reality that they go on month- or even year-long dryspells. On top of that, men are usually hornier and lonelier than women which means that there really is a lot of difference between the experiences of the average guy and gal when it comes to chasing sex. Add to that that a lot of guys measure their self-esteem in terms of their ability to get laid, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I agree that the rational course of action is to not pursue potential partners who are less than enthusiastic. Good advice. For someone with options. From what I gather about how online dating works for men, that less-than-enthusiastic person might be the best chance a lonely guy on a month-long dryspell has. So he discards that good advice because he has to.
Of course, none of that could ever happen to us, handsome successful devils that we are. I am talking about all the other loser men out there. Of course.
I would suggest that you should consider the possibility that you are an outlier but I suspect you know that already. Well done, you are very desirable.
It's good advice for someone without options, too. It's not a job or a meal (hell, some jobs are worse than nothing unless you're literally going to be out on the street, and some meals are definitely worse than nothing). You won't die from not securing a date. I haven't, and a "month-long dry spell" sounds like a luxury to me.
On the other hand, when I try to talk to someone who isn't returning the effort I often wish I was dead. Small talk is already a chore for me as it is. Going on a date with them for a 95% chance of more of the same? No thanks, would rather have a free evening to myself.
It's less "why won't they eat cake" and more "why don't you drink a good whisky once a month rather than spin the drink gacha every weekend and end up with cheap swill most of the time, without enjoying either the taste or smooth inebriation yet getting a hangover just the same".
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I think the right advice for people like this is to modify the strategy before they get to this point. For example, meet people some other way, make themselves more desirable for OLD, make their OLD profile better (people laugh at this but I've seen guys' profiles, they are often really bad but really improvable!), or just match with uglier women.
I think I'm desirable to the women I get to that stage with, because a lot of filtering goes on to get there.
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4 is always where things fall apart for me.
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