The following is an anonymous REPLY from a member
TL;DR version, my take on it, what I've learned from this experience that may or may not help you:
Confessing doesn't work unless you've already planted that seed of idea in her head
Don't put all your feelings/eggs in one basket, as most of the time you won't get out of the friend zone. Keeping your options open and not having your feelings all on this one girl keeps you sane and not too depressed if/when she rejects you.
At the same time, it makes treating her like a friend easier; but don't be afraid to flirt, which helps with the last and MOST IMPORTANT point
Keep her on her toes, keep her guessing whether you're just a friend to her or you like her more than a friend. She might not be thinking of you as boyfriend material, but she will be thinking of you nonetheless, which is all that's needed to plant that idea in her head, as she wonders "why am I thinking about him so much?" I N C E P T I O N STYLE.
Take it from a guy who went through high school pining over friends, confessing, and getting rejected, it does NOT work.
Common knowledge says that if you're in the friend zone, you will be forever stuck in there.
That said, I am happy to say I am currently in the minority that I recently successfully made that jump out of the Friend Zone.
How did I do it? It took a LONG time, but it wasn't something I was actively pursuing on a regular basis. One reason was that I got messed up pretty bad from a bad relationship, and wasn't really ready for anything serious for long time.
Once I was, I dated around, but always had her in the back of my mind. Whenever we hung out I'd just pay more attention to her, some friendly-flirting in person and via text, just to keep her on her toes and chip away at the possibility that I just MIGHT get with her.
Eventually we hung out just us two a few times, which turned out to be very unintentionally romantic non-dates, which was really what started to put the seed of the idea of us "dating" in her head, from what she tells me. However, still seeing other people, and still acting like a 'friend' to her, save for the occasional flirty comment or text.
The 'moment' that hit for her was we were at a bar one night, with a group of friends. I was leaving early, and went to give her a hug good bye. For some reason (could be the alcohol), I hung on for a few seconds longer than your standard hug. I felt something, and she told me after that was the moment when she really realized the feelings for me she'd been ignoring or pushing aside. To quote her, "as cliche as it sounds, it felt like time stood still when we had that hug."
It finally happened when one weekend we were at different bars, I texted her that too bad she couldn't get into the one I was at. She texted me back "I know. it's not the same without you." To me I was like
but I know what it meant.
Anyway, I just read dinosaur's post as I was composing this long-ass post, and seems like the main point of flirting with the girl but at the same time keeping it 'friendly' but with an air of sexual tension, was kinda what happened in mine and her instances too.