hey go out a few times and she begins telling him very intimate things. At this point, they are texting daily. Then suddenly, she goes silent. He reaches out and she basically tells him she just wants to be friends.

He was the emotional support tampon and plan B security blanket - giving her the confidence to leave the guy she was with and chase somebody else.... who she then got...then the LJBF chat.... and who has now dumped her.... hence the chatting again.

My question is, is this common?

ish.

Women like this prey on and manipulate nice guys who follow the beta programming of "give endless love and attention and pray for eventual marriage".

They absolutely know what they are doing and have a range of come-backs lined up if ever the situation changes. She has lines literally ready.... "I didn't know you felt that way"... and she has lines ready for if sex is a possibility... "I really like you buy I'm not quite ready for that yet".

Additionally, would not responding/responding “no” to her LGBF offer affect this outcome?

Yes.

None of this makes sense to me as a 3rd party observer.

It should if you've been around TRP for a while.

Your friend needs to learn a few lessons. Being an emotional tampon gets you used. You give away all power and get nothing.

So don't be a fucking emotional tampon. Lead with looks, charisma, style, attractiveness. Try to fuck women. DITCH WOMEN WHO ARE NOT FUCKING YOU.

As a beginner at age 18, you should ditch a woman you have not had sex with in 30 hours in her company. At 30 hours you're in the friendzone, but you couldn't escalate faster.

Intermediate at age 25, that should be 20 hours.

Man of the world at age 30, that limit is 10 hours.

If you've been in her company for 10 hours, presumably attempted to escalate to being alone together and then to sex.... if it's not clearly happening at 10 hours, time to NEXT.

The next can be quite soft... you can fade them out..... or even accept them as friends (ie MUTUAL BENEFIT) but you most definitely should filter out the timewasters at 10 hours and put your efforts into women who might want your dick bashing their cervix.

Ok.... once every 10 days isn't enough for most women unless they're married, seeing someone else, etc.

Replying reliably and treating them well - this is enough to trigger BF/GF feelings yes, if she's attracted etc.

But do understand that I am (in my view) playing it as non-commital as possible without coming off like an asshole. So if they treat me well, I will reciprocate their behavior to a degree (2/3 golden rule) but I never do shit for them out of the blue or verbalize any sort of commitment etc.

You're acting like "boyfriend possibility".

It's honestly a tricky line to walk.

Mattyanon's top tip for you: Be honest and up front about what you want, where it's going and where it's not going. At the point she's interested (eg after kissing, BEFORE SEX) tell her up front that you like her, you plan to keep seeing her, but that you will not be exclusive with her.

You'll lose 50% instantly, and 50% of those that try it will go exactly the same way.

Once you've verbalised it like this, you can see them once a week (max).

And don't always answer their texts same day. That's BF behaviour.

The thing is.... you "just being nice" is exactly the same as "potential boyfriend behaviour".