Hey everyone - I'm new here

Thought I'd start with a field report for an opener and followup that I believed was well thought out (but didn't yield great results)

A bit of background - I recently moved to online sites after growing weary of the bar scene. I had some limited success there (I'm not sure how much was game and how much was luck) but I wasn't thrilled with the girls I was finding in bars. With sites like OKC I felt like I can pick and choose better.

In the online world I'm having trouble with prolonging conversations, even though I've a fairly decent opening rate. I wanted to share one "expedition" here that I felt was promising, but didn't work. This is the canned Mystery opener...

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Me: You seem like a flosser. Do you floss before or after you brush your teeth?

Girl: Lol. nope.

Me: Really. You've a bright set of teeth though.

Flossing tells you things about people. Not being a flosser suggests intermittent shyness. You must be bold mostly - but shy at times?

Girl: Lol well that picture is about a week old? I'm a smoker so those whites aren't as white, lol.. oh well. And I guess ?? Idk lol

Me: Whites are overrated lol. I'm starting to rethink the part abt u being bold - are you?

Girl: Bold? I don't know? Lol.

Me: Simple test. A super cool Indo-Canadian dude has messaged you on OKC. He'd like a date on Gchat/MSN/some other IM client some time. You are BOLD if you give him your IM info

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It sort of went cold from there.

In retrospect, it seems like maybe the psycho-analysis act didn't go down so well

This text based stuff is hard. You can either interpret her last message in a playful way (which is what I did, and why I got pretty forward with the next msg) or see it as genuine confusion (in which case my next msg was totally unwarranted).

Although I'm doing okay with openers, my follow up has been weak. Any advice from the seasoned experts out here would be appreciated

I've preached many times in here how I number close:
if hb responds with her name it's a big IoI, so number close: You're actually doing really good!

Thanks dlightmen - that's encouraging

I'll give your approach a shot the next time I get this far.

I've something of an eye for people's ethnic origins. I use that as an opening sometimes. But I'm wondering how to turn that into an IM/text date...

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ME: Quick shot in the dark - are you a Vietnamese girl?

HB: Haha, yes I am. =)

ME: I've a pet hamster that squeaks adorably whenever I show her a picture of a pretty Vietnamese girl. That's how I knew =) You should meet her sometime

HB: Hahaha that is so funny. You made that up, didnt you?

ME: Hey you're hurting Fofo's feelings by denying her existence

haha so tell me, aside from the fact you're cute, what's a couple of good reasons to get to know you better?

HB: Haha i didnt deny her existence, i meant to say that she doesnt squeal when she sees a viet chick. I dont know what tell you, im a granny

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I'm trying to strategize ahead. I think I should (correct me if I'm wrong) go for an IM date, and after building up some comfort on IM ask for a #. Before that I need ways to demo high value, etc to get to the point where she's comfortable enough to give me her IM.

Also I'm cautiously debating how to respond to that last msg. It seems like she's yanking my chain here. Any suggestions??