There are certainly disadvantages to being short, probably especially in the dating realm. Big whoop. That's not what's preventing you from dating anyone.

If you can overcome that disadvantage, all power to you, but it doesn't change the state of affairs.

I refer you to this graph - http://cdn.okcimg.com/blog/lies/MessagesPerWeek.png

It's a rough analysis but shows a clear female preference based on height. Certainly an indicator.

There are plenty of women out there who would be happy to date you. You are the one filtering them out. Consider women over 40 and women with children. Those groups have huge problems finding men. Works both ways.

I hate to sound like a terrible hypocrite, but I do have to apply filter enough that I'd be able to honestly say I found them attractive. My standards are actually not all that vastly high to sound like a terribly shallow person.

As for women w/children, I wouldn't on the basis of having had a step parent during my upbringing and the various weirdnesses that involves so I'd rather be single than be in that position.

But we both know that, no matter how fucked up you are, there are girls who would consider you "good enough". Your job is to go out and find out what those girls are like. One of two things will happen: either you're fine with those girls; or you'll suddenly find a massive motivation to improve yourself (for an endgame of what's possible, see Seth Green)

Your only problem right now is ignorance. Go out and change that.

I've given up because of this and other factors. But I respect your positivity and you're right there is more to it.

I refer again to http://cdn.okcimg.com/blog/lies/MessagesPerWeek.png - it's not 100% but it's indicative. Also I refer you to walking down the street in your town. If you were correct, then there'd be a big variation (or at least one resembling the normal dist) in male height in couples you see. But in fact what you see is something of a skew...

I hate to join the 'hacker news is going downhill' parade, but this is pretty bad. Go read http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html :-

    When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g.:-

    "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

I wrote a fair bit here in response to your 'points', but to be honest your lack of civility doesn't warrant it. Feel free to disagree, but try + do it politely, this isn't reddit.

I'd be completely average height in Mexico, say.

you need to get out of your head, your bubble and get friends first. good friends that can help you get your head straight. no one cares about your height bro.

How tall are you can I ask compared to your national average? To somebody without this disadvantage it simply doesn't exist.

It's not the only thing, but it's a MASSIVE thing.

I am sure you will be fine. It's all about the attitude.

Just because you managed to overcome the disadvantage, doesn't make it not a thing. It's not all about the attitude (or rather apparent confidence), it's partly about it.

The interesting point with these sorts of responses is they follow the fallacious logic of 'here is an anecdotal example of somebody with your disadvantage succeeding due to separate advantages, therefore you don't have a disadvantage at all.'

I don't know about his confidence, but he's got really good looks. He doesn't have much acting talent (in my opinion), still he is so successful in his field. I suppose looks can take one far, really far.

QED.

I think it's less of a conscious thing a lot of the time, rather it's an ingredient in sexual attraction + 'chemistry', so naturally you women often feel more attracted to a taller man (if that doesn't sound terribly condescending, I don't mean it to be!), in the same way we men prefer symmetrical faces and a certain hip-to-waist ratio. We usually wouldn't put it that way, but it's inbuilt.

It's only 1 factor of course. I think of it in terms of chemistry prerequisites - once you get through those then the real stuff that matters comes into play, but without it you're never going to advance beyond the friendzone.

I'm slightly taller than average, but even I have noticed this phenomenon. It is ridiculous how many single women say they exclusively want a tall man, they want to "look up" to a man. Even the shorter-than-average women want a man of at least average height. On dating sites like PlentyOfFish I've seen ~5' tall women say that they are only interested in men at least 6' tall. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that height is in the top 3 discriminators that women have for men (weight, race and baldness being in contention for the other two spots).

The short guys (as well as chubby, bald guys) that I know who have been successful with the ladies have all been comedians. If you can get past their firewall of physical characteristics, making a woman laugh is the root password to her lady parts and her heart. Sucks if you are short, fat, bald and not very funny though.

I am 6'2 weigh 190 and I haven't had a significant other in 2 years. Seriously, it's confidence and understanding what your standards should be. I know that seems patronizing and an over simplification but these rules seem to hold true across couples. The greater exception that we like to notice more often is "How did that guy/girl get that guy/girl".

I don't doubt that women on a dating site say those things in majority. But there is a strong minority that don't look for those things.

Just like real life.

This will get you 80% of the way there: 1) Volume, volume, volume. 2) Look to have fun, not for your soul mate. If something's not happening, BFD.

And this will get you to 150% of the way there: 3) Do interesting things, have interesting stories to tell, and meet interesting people.

Please do not do this if you value reducing the amount of misery in the world.

The truth is you have to be confident and genuine, treat women like people, meet a whole lot of them, and actually try to find someone you get along with and like.

There are no shortcuts to that; you can't simulate it. The Game might get you to fake-it-til-you-make-it, but that's about it.

And fake-it-til-you make it is just another word for practice.

I'm somewhat biased because I know Neil and go to his intensives. But they are extremely good and I've gotten a lot out of them. Further, I decided to meet him because of the Game.

It would be long story, but when observing him one thing came to mind: he knew how to talk to women. Just imagine that the guys nickname was a "Beast". He was that ugly. I've seen him just once in my life. We went on a trip in College and his College was on a trip at the same place. It was a 3-days trip to the Mountains. He really had a lot of girls every night. Don't ask me how, I don't know. It was (and still is when I think about it) like magic to me. All the dudes where in a deep wow-factor. I mean we - of course - were jealous, but also curious. How he does this? Like he could have put some spell on these girls. Never seen something like that before in my life.

One of the friends from college - a girl - told us she used to go to the same high school as him - so of course guys started asking her all the questions about him. She didn't look comfortable to talk about it, but admitted the guy had slept with most pretty girls in high school, plus some (married!) teachers. When someone asked her if he slept with her too she just gave us that look.

The only explanation I could have thought of is this proverb: Men fall in love through their eyes. Women fall in love through their ears.

Look at Hawking. He has wife, he has kids, grandchildren etc.

Looks may be important for women but not as much as other aspects - self-esteme, wealth, being popular, etc. They crave powerful men. Or the ones who convince them they are. Or they really like the way they are bulshitted, when the bulshitter is really skilled. Or I don't know. But really, your looks is non-factor, trust me.

"Men fall in love through their eyes. Women fall in love through their ears."

And people love to tell themselves convenient stories that may or may not be true. If that proverb were really the case you'd expect to see a full variation of height difference in couples but no, you nearly always see a woman ~ 2 - 3" shorter than the man, so it's certainly a factor.

Additionally you see a general increase in height in populations with decent nutrition over time which is arguably due to sexual selection.

Explain to me the 'TALL, dark, handsome' cliche?

There's plenty of evidence that height is a thing. As I said before, it's not 100%, but the fact it's a big factor is undeniable. It's not everything, but it's a massive factor, even if other factors can compensate to some degree.

That is what matters. Not height or appearance or income. FFS, the guys I've seen have women flock to them! It's like they're magnetic. Yet to another guy, they're just ordinary.