Totally agreed.

And I never said you have to be buying girls stuff when you just met them. In fact, the first major exception I make really clear is that I do not buy girls drinks (or anything for that matter) the night that I meet them.

Of course some people are hung up so much on the lover/provider mindset; they take so much offense to the idea of the guy ever paying for anything, and this is all they see, and all they think I mean.

Haha, skills you are funny.

Try adding something constructive to the conversation however. It is not a good idea to pay most of the time. So as a general rule: Don't!

With time and experience you will begin to understand when it is acceptable or when it isn't.

For the record, I wouldn't advise to open with 'hi' or 'hello.'

Please put some thought into your comments in future to avoid wasting people's time.

Cheers, Jack.

Women will put a dude into 4 categories( i change my view to 4 instead of 3)
a nothing(not a friend, not an acquaintance, not a person she wants nothing to do with, she just gave him the number for whatever reason)
a friend or emotional tampon( dead zone)
a lover or dude she wants to fuck(best zone to be in even if you want to her to be your gf always fuck them first then walk backwards to a relationship)
a boyfriend/or potential bf ( this may delay sex, or totally kill your chances and put you into friend zone when it comes to dating)
So what is the problem with the traditional dinner, movie, miniature golf, and all that crap that you see on live dating shows like “millionaire match maker”, The problem i see with the traditional dating is that it has a high % to one of these 2 outcomes specially for newer/intermediate guys, you will be put into the possible bf application stack, so you will get screen harder, and your flaws will be looked at or maximize… Now let say you are amazing and you get through her screening, then sex may be delay(since now you will be seen as a bf instead of lover, so she may want you to see her as girlfriend material that she is not that easy, the women 3 date rule crap), plus it is a bad frame you are paying for dates so you are seen as a provider. Anyways the % of success doing the traditional dating in my opinion lower than if you do what i suggest which i will call the lover dates:
1.- Any excuse to be at your house or her house(renting a movie, dinner at your house, video games,massage etc…)
2.- walk by the beach(night preferably)
3.- Park date (secluded night time)
4.- dancing at a club(easy to escalate)
5.- drinks at a bar( alcohol may be your friend to make her relax)
6.- swingclub, sex shop, sex expo, strip club.(advance level)
The goal of 2 to 6 is to go back home or to a motel and have sex with the exception of the swingclub(cause you fuck them in the swinclub).

I think you guys are overthinking this totally. Sometimes I pay for a girls drink, sometimes I don´t, and frankly whether I do or don´t has no impact on the outcome. A woman will fuck you because she´s attracted to you, because you are fun, relaxed and confident. She will fuck you because, if there is attraction, you are bold and escalate without fear which will get her turned on. Sure there are loads of aspects to consider when assessing if a girl will let you fuck her that I didn´t mention, but whether you bought her a drink or not is not one of them. Just be fucking congruent and do whatever you feel like and you´ll be fine...
Maybe this whole pay/don´t pay discussion is an american issue that makes no sense to me being european? Could be, I can´t tell.

Best advice here is given by Skills: Stay away from lame traditional dates, full stop.

Oh, and one more thing: "Hi" and "Hello" might not be the most original openers, but they are as good as any. When will some people get their heads around the simple concept that, when it comes to openers, it doesn´t matter what you say, but how you say it?!