What the fuck?

Preselection = girl sees that other women find you attractive.

That's it.

I'll get you up to speed on preselection before digging into those weirdly specific hypotheticals you asked about.

First and foremost, it's an evolutionary adaptation by women. It's not conscious, and they can't help it.

Women's attraction to men is based on a shit ton of factors. Looks are a tiny part of the total package.

Determining if a man is "attractive" (ie worthy of impregnating her) is a lot of work.

Humans are lazy and look to save time and energy when we can.

So when one or more women determine a guy is "worthy", that's a shortcut for other women who haven't had a chance to evaluate him yet. It can also cause women who were previously ambivalent about him or even categorized him as "unworthy" to reassess.

This works in reverse, too. Women do not want to fuck a man that no other woman wants to fuck.

This is part of why a dry spell can be difficult to break, and why at other times you can be positively swimming in poon.

To summarize: women finding you attractive makes you appear more attractive to other women, and women finding you unattractive will repulse other women.

For example: if a guy was trying to land a girl, finally had a date set, and then the day before the date he posted a picture/video at the club dancing with other girls, shouldn’t that mess up his chances with the first girl?

There are a shit ton of factors at play in this ridiculous hypothetical that we can never know or account for. It may or may not help or hurt his chances with that particular woman, but none of this is about trying to bag any one particular woman, but rather increasing your odds across all women.

he’s been trying for a while with the girl in question?

Why would he try for a while with her if he has other options?

WHILE she was playing hard to get

If she's "playing hard to get", then forget her and move on to a woman who actually wants you. A woman who actually wants you isn't going to take the chance of losing you by "playing hard to get". Never put up with that bullshit.

thought it meant that girls liked guys who had OPTIONS, not guys who PURSUED other options

Right.

But it can be even better if you're exploring those options. When I was still playing the field, I never had a woman want me less because of my fucking other women. I didn't brag or throw it in their faces, but if they asked, I was honest.

If a woman expects exclusivity too early, especially if you two haven't even fucked yet, then she doesn't actually want you, but rather wants some kind of status (wife, girlfriend, etc).

Preselection is always best when it's subtle. If a girl accidentally sees you out with another girl, if she sees that other girls are texting you, or if you're busy and you're vague about what you're doing. In this scenario it comes off as too try hard and overt when the guy is posting pictures and videos of him dancing with other girls. Maybe it'll work with this specific girl or maybe not.

This scenario could work though if the guy has a social media presence around nightlife. For example a club promoter.

But a guy who plays it mysterious and passes shit tests about having options is better.

Her: "How many girls have you had in this bed?"

You: "You're the first one..." with a grin.

The imagination is a powerful tool.

You're overthinking it. Your hypothetical is weird and you should feel bad.

Preselection is simply women seeing that you're wanted by other women, it's a heuristic shortcut they use to skip the tedious vetting process.

If they see that all the women around you want you, they reason out that there's something about you worth having, even if they don't know what that thing is. Conversely, if they see that no women want you, they will rule you out despite any personal characteristics that might make you a good fit for them.

You know every girl has a different threshold for how much competition anxiety she is willing to accept right? It's not simply about having competition.

Also, women get turned on by the guy girls want. It's a challenge to steal a man from another woman. It's more about how little a girl thinks she can matter to a guy with options before she checks out.

They'd rather have a winner. Men aren't women dude stop thinking about women like pseudo men who get turned off by the same shit you'd get turned off by as a man

Again, your problem is you can't possibly imagine how women feel, unlike men who "get it".

You keep acting like women have cocks and you're getting the level of confusion you'd expect by treating women like they have cocks

Its complex but pre-selection does imply that the selection by other high value females or another female in the group took place before the girl made her choice.

Post selection indication of other options will result in jealousy that may be competitive or may be destructive.

So let's look at this:

A. Why do you give a shit? If I'm having a good time. I post what I want. That's a window into your life.

B. Most guys don't overthink it and just post whatever. Here's honesty: women love cocky, funny and assertive men.

A guy with options has the freedom to do what he wants or pursue whoever. A guy that's been trying for a while is locked into one girl. Preselection is really shown when girls come to flirt with you in public.

This is a case of the more you care about her feelings. The worse you'll look.

I wouldn't overthink this. It seems like you care too much about this.