The eHarmony "Two Strike" rule

When I first started to become familiar with "game", I did find that it was helpful in convincing reluctant women to move forward in communication.

The bad news? They were still reluctant women. And usually, they had very good reasons to be reluctant.

I documented my most extreme case here.

Over time? I've found that I've been happiest when I've applied what I call, "The Two Strike rule".

Basically, when a woman is working to attract my attention... she'll make it easier for me to meet up with her. Not the other way around. And if she's acting badly before we've even met, odds are good that she ain't gonna get any better when I get to know her.

And, really, why do I want to meet someone who's going to be a royal pain in the butt?

Okay. You can go too far with this. Real life happens. Not every woman can be infinitely flexible or attentive. And it would be strange if she were.

That's why it's "Two strikes, and you're out."

One strike? I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. But no more than that. After all, there are plenty of women on eHarmony that don't act like pains in the butt.

So, what counts as a strike?

Here's a partial list. Feel free to add more of your own:

• Does not complete her profile within one week.
• Displays a noticeable lack of effort in answering profile questions.
  
• Doesn't "play along" with your open-ended questions.
  
• Doesn't provide a photo on request. (The blog describes how I do this.)
  
• Takes over a week to respond to any phase of communication.
• After usual open communication activity, doesn't agree to a phone call.
• Engages in excessive "phone tag" before you can finally talk.
• Lack of interest in the phone conversation.
• "Too busy" to accept your first two suggestions for meeting up.
• Canceling a date with reasonable notice and/or reason. (No reasonable notice or reason? That's two strikes.)
  

Believe me - every time I've given a woman more than one strike - it's always led to a crappy date. So, in my mind... the "two strike" women aren't worth the effort.

And, no, I don't feed the beasts any further by telling them why I'm dropping them. I just close 'em and move on.