Hey dudes –

TWiAS is a bit short this time, since I'm tired (stayed out late at a party with a FWB, forgot to have sex when we got home, and had to get up early this morning.... grrrrr), but I hope you can deal.

"This week in AskSeddit," if you haven't seen it before, is a round-up of some of the top posts in Seddit's companion subreddit AskSeddit, which is where beginner and/or specific-situation questions on pickup and seduction should go.

Without further ado:

#1. Should I practice PU on a girl I think is unattractive?

ilurkokcupid finds gaming girls to be anxiety-inducing, and is wondering if practicing on girls he's not attracted to might be a good way to ease into it:

I know they're easier on an unattractive girl because I care a lot less about the outcome. My idea is that it would be a stepping stone to trying PU on girls I find more attractive.

Is this something I should attempt? There are many facets to this question. For example, it may not be ethical, it may put me in a comfortable rut, it may be a bad strategy, etc. The consensus seemed to be "yes," although several pointed out that even unattractive girls will reject you some of the time (because most of them still have options and standards, even if it's less than pretty girls), and that could be even more crushing than rejection by hot girls.

My two cents are that this may be an OK strategy for reducing your anxiety, so sure, try it out. But it's worth noting that this would probably go away if you could internalize the idea that hot girls don't have more value than you. It sounds like OP feels (if not consciously) like his value is closer to that of an ugly girl, and hence less anxiety about picking them up. We've been talking about this in the Blueprint Decoded reviews I've been posting lately.

#2. I can't get out of the "formal zone." Why the fuck do I have difficulty asking cashiers about their day?

barneyzedino has trouble being chatty with people in non-party situations, like flirting with cashiers:

I have difficulty just being a cool guy and, for example, asking about a cashier's day. It's just, "Hello, how are you?" "Very well, thank you." "Ah, thank you very much." I can't stop being formal. When someone jokes with me, I often seem stuck-up, like I can't hang.

ImKumarYo's top comment was to basically treat them like you already know them and therefore care about how their day is going. Sounds solid to me. And yokhai responded broadening the concept even further:

This how I switch my game from "trying to get laid" to "making everyone feel like they are my friends" and it does wonders.

#3. HB9 super into me because I manhandled other women in front of her. How effective is this?

This is a sort of advanced post – yes, AskSeddit isn't just for newbies – wherein TwiceWiseAndDrunk has noticed jealousy working in his favor, and asking for other people's experience with this. Tofu identified it as a classic Mystery Method tactic, and frogma argued that jealousy works pretty damn well if you play it right, e.g. not wilting if they act pissed about it.

The whole post and comments are worth reading if you're into this kind of thing. Personally, I don't know if I'd want to do this intentionally, but it's still good information – next time some kind of jealousy drama happens organically, I'll be more inclined to just roll with it instead of feeling like I should backtrack somehow.

Bonus post

rkg-pua requested that people start including age information in their FR titles, like "FR (HS) Blah blah blah...", the idea being to make it easier for people to find FRs relevant to their age.

It's been controversial, and I don't know if I'm going to start doing this personally, but I can appreciate his point – it would be awesome if older guys could more easily find FRs by older guys, and teens by teens, and so on, because a lot of factors are age-related.

Several commenters pointed out that most of pickup is pretty universal, so everyone has a lot to learn from everyone, and I totally agree. But I don't think most people would actually over-segregate themselves, if that's the concern. I mean, if I knew the age of the poster from the post title, I'd probably click on slightly more late 20s/early 30s posts, and slightly fewer teenager FRs and middle-aged dude FRs, sure, but I'd still read the most upvoted ones.

That said, is it worth the additional visual clutter? Beats me.

By the way, thanks to everyone who commented on my AskSeddit question last week! I'm still mulling everyone's comments over.