I thought about putting this in the
original thread, but this would likely get lost amidst all the status reports (not knocking them - they're great). I figure we'll let that thread crash and burn in due course, and we'll hammer out the instruction manual over here. Anyway, if we're going to succeed at this, I think we need to work harder on our openers. I'm not convinced that Inside? is all that and a bag of peanuts, but we haven't got anything that is much better.
Here's at least a start on what a good opener should be:
1. It should set you apart from other guys.
2. It should make the girl want to ask you questions.
In a sense, Inside? accomplishes both those goals. It's different, and she'll be wondering about it. But this is offset by the fact that she may just instantly conclude you're a freak, and she's also not asking questions about
you, she's asking questions about Inside?. Maybe we need a couple more stipulations:
3. Those questions should ideally be about you.
4. The opener should make it obvious you're not a weirdo/stalker/rapist/wimp.
The other thing I tried is referring to her profile in your opener. I asked a (fantastically hot) girl who had "i'm looking for baggage that can match with mine," written in her profile, "Does it fit under the seat in front of you?" I got a quick response, laughter, but she didn't seem all that interested in finding about more to me. (It may also be that this girl is just unapproachable. She has over 100 friends and every last one of them is a guy who's drooling over her. It is almost certainly a ridiculously uphill battle to get her to care.) I think I met goals 1 and 4, but I didn't really get 2 or 3. The other weakness in this approach is that a bland profile with nothing that jumps out at you as the above did for me, you'll have a hard time accomplishing goal #1. Commenting on her music is likely to get you nowhere (although this speculation is unsubstantiated).
So, what do you think, guys? Do you have any other ideas how to accomplish the above goals? Are those goals are utter crap and should we come up with a new set? Also, what have your success rates been with various openers? How frequently do you get responses? Conversations? I don't think we necessarily need to consider the frequency with which you get dates. The conversation presumably does that, but, eh, I guess we can include it. Please, don't lie or exaggerate here. This is done in the name of science.