Can you accurately type someone online?

[timeofurlife42]

So, i have been wondering about this for a while, is it possible to type someone online? i would argue that at the very least online typings are unreliable. i think that there are just too many parts of a persons personality that are not on display online. also there is the issue of "online personalities" vs. "in person personalities", i know that many people develop an online persona and act completely different then they would in person. i would argue that the abilty to review, change, edit, and plan what you actually say makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to accurately type someone in the setting we find ourselves currently, that is, a forum.

go go gadget discussion!

[MysticSonic]

Yes, I find the idea of typing someone online to be a thing of difficulty as well. While typing online isn't an impossible feat nor is it something approaching the level of impracticality, I feel that, as already stated, there are various aspects of a person's character that are simply missing from online interaction.

However, I do feel that the idea of someone constructing an online persona to be in many cases misconceived. While it is wholly possible for someone to construct a completely imaginary persona completely unrepresentative of their off-line behavior and actual psyche, it seems unlikely that this would be a very common thing for people to do. While no doubt an act of great entertainment for some, I believe the large majority of people whom post on this forum and many others like it, one focused around intellectual discussion rather than social interaction and entertainment, are most likely honest in the portrayal of themselves at least to the extent that it doesn't completely betray their inner-make up and Socionic type. One should, of course, always be wary of this facet of interaction(I can think of more than one example of people doing this, albeit at times unwittingly, on this forum itself), but for the most part this isn't a large threat to online typing in general.

While not being a source of completely reliable information, online typing is not, I feel, a practice without merit and one done in futility, but should be taken with much greater care.

[Slacker]

I think you can, but it's harder, and it's probably best to use Rick's method, which involves a lot of discussion and video conferencing stuff.

[timeofurlife42]

i would agree that someone can be typed online. i would argue that on a forum like this it would take at least a hundred posts to be able to acurately type someone... feel free to argue but thats what i think...

as for the online persona that i suggested earlier. i think that this may be more prevelent in people under 22ish years old. for example, i am 21, i have been chatting online since i was 12, even tho i am new to forums, i have developed a persona that i am online which i almost completely separate from my in-person persona. i only noticed this a couple months ago when my parents were thinking about getting facebook accounts, i realized that i was a completely different person online and i wasnt sure if i wanted my parents to discover who i was online. anyways, i'm kinda drunk at the moment so i'm not sure if this post makes any sense and i'm sorry if it doesnt, i'll check it tomorrow morning to make sure i got my point across.
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VAPORIZER AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

[Khola aka Bee]

Dude, you so don't know me irl.


But on a more serious note, yeah, I guess. Not with any one test, but by getting to know people online over a longer period of time and getting many opinions, I'd say it is at least somewhat in the right ball park.

[Jarno]

unreliable.

[Kristiina]

It depends. Usually it's best done with as little prejudice as possible. Sometimes a person comes in "what's my type" and says, "here's my picture, and here's a brief description of how I behave and how i see the world." and everyone has the same opinion of the type, those who have different opinion say something similar. (e.g. ISTp or ISTj in stead of ESTp or they say beta ST). Then it's pretty simple. Typing people online becomes difficult when the person already thinks he knows his type and posts for a while. Then everyone suddenly has a different opinion what the real type is. Or when he starts arguing, "But I'm not aggressive at all, so I can't be ESTp" simply because he has met a couple of members of that type who were too different from him.

It is also difficult when the person already has a type preferance and gives his description with a bias. Makes sure to add how friendly he is to his friends, because he fears people will type him as PoLR. But really he's so afraid of that because he does have PoLR.

When typing a friend, I have noticed that the best way to do it is to say your own type and describe the interactions, past arguements and what they have in common. It is much more difficult when someone gives their own biased decription. Description "He's a very loud and obnoxious person" has very different meaning coming from INFj versus ESTp.

[Jarno]

Even with all this:



?

My statement was referring to the original question of the thread. I should have had it included. My bad.

I was also pretty drunk yesterday which I like to use as a valid excuse now :-)

[timeofurlife42]

"I was also pretty drunk yesterday which I like to use as a valid excuse now :-)"
lol, always a valid excuse

i agree kristiina, thats kind of what i was trying to get at i just couldnt think of a way to phrase it. i just think its too easy to fake your real personality online, or as you said you can emphasize different parts of your personality (conciously or unconciously) to get different results. i've thought about doing this before myself, creating a new account and seeing if i can get people to type me as ESFJ for example, just as an experiment, ive never done it but i think it would be interesting.

at best i think that online typings are unreliable, but interesting none the less. I guess my advice would be that if someone suggests a type for you, check it out, do the research. If you dont agree at worst you've gained a better understanding of your relationship to that type and this in itself may help you come up with a type that fits you best.

anyways what i've determined over the last while is that my personal view on socionics is that its a tool that i can use to understand myself and how i relate to others. as long as i am able to do this this then i am happy with my accomplishment. i think that sometimes people get too concerned with someone elses opinion on their type, and this throws off their original goal for finding a type in the first place. IMO, only you can determine what type is correct for you, if you find something that fits you and helps you understand yourself, then go with that. dont get too hung up on what others think.
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HEARING DISORDERS ADVICE

[Ezra]

Taking everything into consideration (this includes multiple pictures, rich descriptions and live footage of the person), it is relatively easy for one to come to a conclusion about an individual and their type.

[Ms. Kensington]

ditto to ms.

it's not helpful to say that they can be.. because yes of course they can; maybe from a lucky guess, maybe from spooky vibes. To the extent that people are honest, to the extent that behaviors are used to type them offline, yes you can type them with perhaps the same or similar degree of accuracy as you would offline. It's probably more likely that you would type them better offline in borderline cases.

[Ezra]

Description "He's a very loud and obnoxious person" has very different meaning coming from INFj versus ESTp.

Very good point. I would definitely be "loud and obnoxious" to at least a few EIIs, but when I'm sat in a pub or bar, and some shitbag starts shouting because he's drunk and he thinks he's immensely cool and tough, I would call that "loud and obnoxious". He has no etiquette, no such sense of the atmosphere of the place in question, and definitely no clue of the fact that there is at least one person in the bar who would like to shoot him on the spot.