How to · · 5 min read
Why Reply Guys Love a Food Post
Reply guys target food posts because cooking simulates domestic intimacy, creating an easy opening for uninvited men to invite themselves to dinner.
The blog.
Notes on reply guys, bad lines, and men doing too much.
History · · 4 min read
Breaker Breaker: Flirting on CB Radio
1970s CB radio gave strangers handles, shared channels and instant replies; channel 19 was a road channel, not a dating service.
Teardowns · · 4 min read
Need a Gym Buddy?: A Line Teardown
An invented workout post becomes an unsolicited partner search when a stranger offers himself as her gym buddy after her milestone.
Field guide · · 3 min read
Field Guide: The Smile More
A field guide to the man who treats a stranger's facial neutrality as a customer service complaint, offering unsolicited advice on joy.
History · · 4 min read
Mashers: The 1880s Word for Street Reply Guys
The late Victorian 'masher' could mean a flashy flirt or a man pestering strangers in public; old accounts show why the difference mattered.
How to · · 5 min read
Reply Guy vs Troll vs Bot: How to Tell Them Apart
A practical guide to distinguishing between reply guys, trolls, and automated bots on X, including how their motives differ and how to handle each.
History · · 4 min read
Napoleon's Love Letters, and the Famous One He Probably Never Wrote
Napoleon's surviving letters to Josephine are intense enough without the famous 'don't wash' line, which lacks a verifiable letter.
Teardowns · · 4 min read
You Look Like Trouble: A Line Teardown
A stock flirt gives a stranger a borrowed personality, then waits for her to play along with a story she did not write about herself.
Essays · · 5 min read
Emoji Semantics: 😏 vs 😉 vs 🥵
A breakdown of the smirk, the wink, and the sweat face in replies, and why the smirk emoji carries an unbearable amount of presumption.
Field guide · · 3 min read
Field Guide: Wrong Room Entirely
A field guide to the man who treats every post about plumbing, grief, or broken lawnmowers as an invitation to flirt in the public replies.
How to · · 5 min read
How to Compliment Someone Online Without Being a Reply Guy
A simple guide to complimenting a woman online without making it weird, asking for her time, or turning into an accidental reply guy.
History · · 4 min read
Cyrano de Bergerac and the Ghostwritten DM
Rostand's 1897 Cyrano de Bergerac gives Christian another man's words to win Roxane, raising a problem familiar to anyone using a written opener.
Teardowns · · 4 min read
Marry Me: A Line Teardown
Two words turn a stranger's selfie into a proposal, skipping every ordinary stage between seeing a photo and planning a life.
Field guide · · 4 min read
Field Guide: The Hit and Run
A field guide to the hit-and-run reply guy, who drops a single unsolicited comment under an innocent post and vanishes before the notification clears.
History · · 4 min read
Mr. Collins, Literature's Original Reply Guy
In Pride and Prejudice chapter 19, Mr. Collins turns Elizabeth Bennet's clear refusal into a speech about why she must mean yes.
How to · · 6 min read
How to Tell Your Friend His Reply Is Creepy
A practical guide for telling a mate his social media reply crossed the line, without blowing up the group chat or turning him into a defensive wreck.
History · · 3 min read
Shakespeare's Worst Wooing Scenes, Ranked
Petruchio, Malvolio and Orsino offer three ways to turn a Shakespeare wooing scene into a terrible approach.
Teardowns · · 4 min read
Check Your DMs: A Line Teardown
A private message gets a public press release when a stranger comments 'check your DMs' beneath her unrelated post and expects a reply.
Essays · · 5 min read
The Reply Guy in Movies and TV
Long before social media notifications, cinema and television built entire comic plots around men who simply could not take a hint.
Field guide · · 4 min read
Field Guide: The Hey Beautiful Bomber
A field guide to the Hey Beautiful Bomber, the reply guy who peppers women's unrelated posts with generic flattery in the hope of catching a response.