The distinct problem here is that there seems to be a consensus among many of the women on here that "whoever asks the other person out for the date should pay". Which sounds great, perfectly reasonable that the one who initiates the date should pay. That is until you factor in that most of the time its the guy asking the girl out. It's a clever way of saying they still want the guy to pay.
The other issue is that some on here say "I'll only let them pay if I want to carry on seeing them". There's 2 problems with that; firstly, lots of women don't think like that and see it as a free meal, the guy has no way of telling if the woman is genuinely interested, or conning them for a free meal. And secondly, lots of guys are turned off by girls accepting an offer to be paid for, unless the girl says specifically that they want to meet again and will pay (and even then they can be d one over by the girl in the last sentence).
It's a clear signalling problem, that many women signal that they want to see a guy again by not paying, whilst many men take a women not paying half as a potential problem in the relationship straight from the start, as it sets the potential relationship off on the wrong foot.
Also, the xobeauty girl is hilarious, "if a guy invites the girl he he MUST pay, if the girl invites the guy out, well, I guess maybe she COULD pay". These are the thots you want to avoid at all costs, they'll take you for every penny you have, then bitch about you to their friends for good measure...
Edit: despite all that I still normally pay for the first date, unless I think the girls playing me for a free meal, otherwise I'd look bad to every girl I take out and have no chance of getting any action. I think the best rule is to see how the date goes, if I don't think it went well I'd pay half, as I don't want to see them again. If I thought it went well and I initiated the date I'd offer to pay as it's the socially acceptabke thing to do, but it wouldn't take much convincing from the woman for me to split the bill...