[Harv72b]

I skipped out on the original thread a while ago, so I don't know about any recent developments.

However, I see some major problems with your advice:

1) You are not considering the reverse implied odds. In short, you are assuming that Snowball can in fact spend 2 or 3 months working his way up to "bestest buddy" status w/o becoming even more fixated, then make this play and not cave in himself. And, of course, it will be even more heartbreaking for him should she just reply to the non-ultimatum with "okay, I understand" and leave it at that.

2) This is a tremendous amount of effort to expend on something which can just as easily be accomplished by cutting to the end result (not acting like it's a life-changing moment for him when he asks her out).

3) Starting a relationship off by misleading or outright lying to the other person is a sure recipe for an unhealthy and short-lived relationship. If he's just interested in getting her in the sack this is not an important consideration, but I got the distinct impression that he was interested in something longer-term than that. At some point, she will discover that she was duped into dating him (or he will feel it necessary to confess it to her), and will either be outraged that he tricked her like that, or find it rather pathetic that he needed to go through such an elaborate ruse rather than just asking her out in the first place.

4) In poker terms, this seems a lot like giving a free card with a flush draw showing. It is entirely possible (even likely, if she truly is as wonderful as Snowball portrays her as being) that she will meet someone else during the time that he is "working his way up the ladder" and become involved with that person. Not only will that make it less likely that she would give in and decide to date Snowball, but it would probably throw a pretty big monkey wrench into the whole "indispensible friend" aspect of the plan, as she would have this new beau.

5) You ignore the possibility that, rather than being dejected that she might lose her friendship with Snowball, she will instead be hurt and angry that he would give the friendship up over something as trivial as a jealous girlfriend or physical attraction to her.

It seems to me that the direct approach, as always, is the best one.