Looking for some potential reassurance I made the right decision :/
Firstly, sorry this is so long and I appreciate anyone taking the time to read this!
I (F, early 30s) started back on dating apps last month against my better judgement. I am conventionally attractive and have lots of hobbies, interests, friends, good career, etc... Within the first week or so I matched with a man (mid 30s, okay lookswise but nothing to write home about), but we started talking and it was like we had known each other forever. We skipped all the small talk and went right into great convo/banter, we had many similar interests, taste in art/music/films/books, humor, and random niche interests I've never found anyone else interested in before. Even if he wasn't my usual type looks-wise, I was super attracted to his mind and felt like we were so similar. He was super responsive and would text me back right away, we would talk all throughout the day and well into the night for hours. He would even bring up stuff like he's looking for someone to grow with at this point and dropped comments about us having potential and what not, was also super flirty and expressed a lot of explicit interest. I matched his energy and also was really responsive and openly expressing interest back, I usually am a bit more aloof in the beginning until I trust the person more. I am super picky and this is the first person in years I have actually felt like had relationship potential. This went on for about a week, I asked him when we should meet and he said he had plans that weekend but maybe the next week. I said I only have plans on _____ but I think I'll be free otherwise and he said great but didn't make an official day/plan.
The last full convo we had on a Wednesday went really well and we were joking about needing to make up a story for how we met. Then Thursday he doesn't reply at all, I reach out Friday morning and say good morning happy Friday, he didn't reply til late afternoon and said "Hi! sorry I just saw this my notifications are being weird." I said "No worries! how's it going?" He said "getting a haircut then going out of town with friends!" I said "Oh cool, where?" He told me "*insert local city here*" and I said "Sweet have fun!" He then never replied and didn't ask me how I was doing, what I was up to that weekend, etc...
I waited til Tuesday and he still hadn't texted me so I asked him straight up if he's still interested and I noticed a change in his communication and that I would just like to know rather than wasting my time further. I also said I'm obviously not expecting constant communication or anything so early on, I was just confused because he was constantly texting me the first week then totally stopped and went from 100 to 0. He apologized and said he shut off over the weekend but does enjoy talking to me and I replied and said I'll forgive him this time and sorry if my message came across poorly but I just don't want to invest energy into someone who isn't interested. He then apologized again and said something flirty and I replied saying "I do accept your apology this time but maybe not next time if the same thing keeps happening lol" He then didn't reply for 3 days! I was kind of offended because I already asked him straight up if he was still interested and it felt like he was stringing me along rather than being totally honest. And this was 2 weeks into talking and he still hadn't asked me to meet officially or set up a day/time. I was also suspicious I was being deceived or he had a girlfriend or something because he had 8 hour disappearing messages turned on the whole time we'd been talking and when I turned them off, he turned them back on again. Also sus that he may have been on a weekend trip with a woman and not just "friends" because this directly coincides with when he stopped texting me.
I texted him and basically said I feel like there are inconsistencies with your words/actions and that it has been over a week since we had a real convo. And I feel like there is something else going on like possibly already having another woman/ex in his life and keeping me on the back burner or that he just wasn't as interested as he originally implied. But that I don't play games and if I asked you for honesty and you aren't able to share your true thoughts/intentions about me that it will not work anyways. And I said I am blocking you as to not be strung along further so no need to reply.
Well overall I feel I made the right decision because anytime a man has been truly interested he wants to communicate and wants to meet me, especially if he knows he has a chance. The only times this isn't the case is if they're a player wanting ego boosts/pen pals or they already have another woman that's their main priority and want to keep you around for a rainy day. I feel like when I reached out and asked if he was still interested at that point if he was he would have asked me out, but instead he just apologized then didn't reply again for 3 days. I guess I am just wanting reassurance here that I made the right choice, because I've been really sad about it thinking I may have potentially lost something that could have been a great connection but I maybe should have given him more time and I pulled the block trigger too soon. On the other hand, I have an intuitive feeling I was being deceived/played somehow and he wasn't being totally honest with me.
Any men willing to weigh in here? (Keep in mind we're in our 30s) Are there any other reasons you would do this to a woman that I might not be considering? Should I have given him more time or you think my instincts were correct? If you were in his position how would you feel about me calling you out for inconsistent behavior/blocking you? And my unhinged questions: if you did this to a woman that you were actually interested in, but it was just a misunderstanding/lack of communication on your part and you felt like you fumbled it, would you make an effort to try to contact her in the future even being blocked or just let it go and move on? Would you be weirded out if the woman reached out to you again in the distant future after getting fed up/blocking?