Plate spinning can be fairly described as a state of affairs where a person has a number of plates (dating partners) with whom he interacts with (has sex with) in a non-exclusive fashion on a somewhat regular basis over some reasonably ongoing period. It goes without saying that this involves 'real' plates, real people. Not, as the word is (ab)used here, to mean girls from whom you got an indicator of interest, or are thinking of pursuing, or went out with once or twice, or, worse - imaginary or virtual plates, plates that you could spin, if only you so wanted. If you are not doing as described above, you are not spinning plates. Maybe 'dating' is a better word for what you are doing. Call it what it is. This also would exclude people who are in LTRs or are married.
Plate Theory doesnt explain anything about plate spinning for the simple reason that it only tangentially has anything to do with plate spinning. Amazingly, you dont need actual plates - ie real flesh and blood people in a rotation. Thats why people with no plates (only virtual ones) or those in LTRs can (supposedly) take advantage of plate theory. This in itself should alert people to the the fact that it doesnt have much to do with 'real' plates or plate spinning. Its describing something else.
Where the essence of plate theory is that a man is as confident and valuable as his options, maybe it should be called Options Theory. But even then, its not clear what the point is - it seems to imply that having options makes you confident and valuable. But one could just as easily claim the opposite - that being confident will increase the options available to you. Or that being valuable leads to being confident, or any other configuration or permutation. If something is true even when read backwards or upside down, you are probably not saying much. The whole thing suffers from chicken and egg disease. So it doesnt seem very insightful to me. Particularly as none of this is 'proven' or supported by anything, or argued convincingly.
At best, the most you could say (if you need to say anything) is that they (options, value, confidence, etc) are kind of clustered, and are probably positively correlated with each other. I think we understood that already. The whole thing, insofar as it is at all coherent, seems to me just linguistic stone skipping and is largely analytic (as in, its truth is basically contained in the way we use and understand the words without the need to go to the real world - on the order of discovering that bachelors tend to be unmarried).
But if the general point of plate theory is that (generaly) having more options rather than less is better, well, no kidding. Maybe i can invent Dollar Theory - having more dollars gives you more options which gives you more value (literally). Or Plate Theory 2 - lifting plates in the gym (barbell plates) gives you strength which gives you confidence which gives you options which gives you value which gives you confidence, which... etc. Or how about Employable Skills Theory? If you have lots of employable skills, then that gives you options, which gives you confidence...
Plate spinning is an end in itself. It is not a means to an end. Also, if you are spinning plates (again, real ones) You probably already have a sufficient amount of confidence, so you arent going to gain much from it in that respect. Again though, were it actually proven that a person with no plates and a given amount of confidence then gets plates (real ones) and then shows some increase in confidence attributable solely to plate-spinning (having excluded other possibilities), that might be interesting - but the theory (dont get me started on the use of the word theory to inflate what is merely a thought, or a notion, or an idea) just claims it (or something to that effect), so its usefulness escapes me.
One more: it is also stated that one very important benefit that plate theory provides is that it greatly curbs the propensity for oneitis both in and out of an LTR - ummm, no. Actual plate-spinning might do that, but not the 'theory'. Similary, while it may be true that spinning more plates allows you the opportunity to sift through potential partners, this refers to 'actual' plates, and actual plate spinning, not plate theory. And, its no that opportunity and options make a man the PRIZE; rather, people who are the prize (whatever that vague notion is) tend to have more options and opportunities, possibly as a result of such status - or maybe they have them because they are more creative in seeing them, or are more diligent in pursuing them... or any reason you want to conjure up on your keyboard, luckily free from the need to support your theory.
Just recently, I "lost" 2 FBs as they pursued a relationship and a plate (moving to another country). Went back to zero for a short while, but I knew I could get the plates spinning again and now I'm back to 2. 
