> That's actually not true. It's actually a skill and > some of these guys, including me, have spent years > going out twice a week, 5 days a week, to acqui

> That's actually not true. It's actually a skill and > some of these guys, including me, have spent years > going out twice a week, 5 days a week, to acquire > this skill. What we're seeing in this thread (and everywhere, really) is that this skill is so intuitive to many people that they don't even recognize that it's a skill others have to work at. I'm kind of in the middle. I was an awkward kid but I worked hard at figuring out how to socialize over the years and now it actually comes pretty naturally to me. (Not that I'm a master charmer today or anything!) But I respect that this skill is something that a lot of people struggle at. And I think that getting people started on the right path might be simpler than other people think - some people benefit from having allegedly "intuitive" concepts spelled out to them, such as "a good conversationalist will ask questions about the other person."