Why do girls do this?

I'm just going to state now, I AM a girl, and I am aware that not every single girl in the whole world does this, before I get people squawking "I don't do that STOP GENERALISING" but it's something I have noticed happening very frequently, and I'm curious about it.

There's been more than enough threads in H&R on this over the past God knows how long, so most of you will get what I'm talking about. The scenario is, a guy likes a girl. Really likes her. They're usually really good friends, but the girl is completely oblivious. Eventually, the guy comes out and tells her. Girl says she doesn't feel the same way (for some wishy-washy reason), so she and the guy stay friends. The girl will go out with countless other guys, but it never works out, and she complains to the guy that there are no decent guys out there and she will never find anyone, and asks "why aren't more guys like you?" But never goes out with guy. Guy pounds head against a brick wall.

Despite the fact that this guy would probably treat her really well, knows her well already and is probably a good match for her, she will never go out with this guy.

Why does this happen? Girls, why do you never consider 'the best friend' type of guy? I can't answer my own question because I've not been in this situation before. Are you put off by a trait of theirs? Is there just no attraction? Even if you've not experienced it, you can theorise. This happens so often, and you see it IRL and even on TV all the time. I think this quote summarises it well:

A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.

Guy pounds head against a brick wall.

I agree with you here and have to say i am guilty of this. Sometimes once someone is your friend your just too scared to take it any further for fear that if it does not work out you just messed up a really good friendship.

I've got a twist on this story...my best male friend asked me out since he's desparately in love with me. I said yes because he's a great guy and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. The problem is, I'm not attracted to him the way he is me (I think he's lovely and there is something there, but he loves me WAY more than I love him) and now I can't break up with him or I'll lose a best friend!