This post is for those who are interested in how to type others accurately--the steps you should take, what you should look for in other ppl, etc.

Rick DeLong gave me permission to post his typing of me on this forum. Here it is:

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Hi Justin,

I'm pretty confident of my conclusion and am going to give it to you now along with my reasoning and observations.


When writing to me initially, you made an effort to be friendly and informal, and tossed out some types and terminology at me in passing. In my experience, this is usually a good sign of an Fe-ego type


Next, the pictures showed you as something of a "bad boy," with the "black leather" look a bit confusing considering your friendliness and seeming mildness. I found a couple of your friends rather forbidding in appearance. Your look wasn't one I was familiar with and didn't really remind me of anyone, but I began to lean towards EIE based on the spirit of the pictures, some of the facial expressions, and the kinds of friends you were with.


In general in your videos you seemed a bit more sluggish, spacey, and mild than I would have expected from an EIE, and I added IEI and ESE to the list of types to consider.


The first video about your friend basically firmly ruled out IEE. The qualities you appreciate in your friend are totally atypical for IEEs: things like "rawness," "not giving a shit," "people say he's an asshole," "he almost never gives compliments," etc. IEEs and in general Delta types value a certain interpersonal sensitivity and ability to give compliments and encouragement. The qualities you mentioned, and the language you used in describing your relationship, seemed typically Beta.


You cracked me up in the second video, answering the question: "tell me about a concept that you feel strongly about." You chose "storytelling," which isn't even a concept -- at least in the normal understanding of the word; it's an activity or process. Which basically suggested a dynamic type, or IEI and EIE. The meaning you injected into the concept was 1) making an impact on people, and 2) creating meaning. In general these Fe + Ni themes seem the most important to you, and the vocabulary you use is generally related to these aspects. For instance, Ni: "there was emptiness there" (inside a person), "this world doesn't have to be a black void of nothingness." In talking about storytelling, your focus seemed to be more on Ni (the internal or spiritual experience) rather than Fe (the process of expressing). Also, your actual state when speaking seemed to be more Ni -- contemplating, dwelling, searching around inside yourself for something.


The funny story you told had a more Se theme (crazy and risky situations). I wondered if an EIE would have let themselves be pushed over so easily. Most EIEs, I think, would have flown into a rage. Not that IEIs are necessarily pushovers, but the story suggested that you were definitely not in charge of the situation. Also, your storytelling style is really unrushed; one characteristic of ILIs and IEIs is that they tend to slow the pace of things down and dwell on them more than other people. I'd recommend looking up Garrison Keillor (IEI) on YouTube for some of his monologue stories from "Lake Wobegon." That's a perfect example.


ESE can be ruled out completely because of your ease in imagining your future and dwelling on different scenarios. Plus, you really do use tons of Ni language. After the chat, I feel pretty confident in ruling out EIE, too. Normally, with EIEs I feel an underlying competition between us -- competition for decision making and steering the conversation (even when one of us is designated to be in charge). You, on the other hand, seem content to go along with others' initiative as long as you approve of where things are going. In speaking on a subject, you don't tend to inadvertently broaden the scope of discussion (as extraverts generally do), but focus on addressing only the subject in discussion. This is a fine distinction, but I thought I'd mention it.


When describing the kind of people you are drawn to, you basically described a Se-leading type. I know one's self-typing can influence these kinds of answers, but your answer seemed believable in the context of your other statements, like ending up hanging around the house all day lost in your own thoughts.


In talking about peace on earth and why it's not possible, you basically explained your position through Ni: "because things have been going on for sooo long." The theme of pursuing your dreams and dreaming big is also really typical of IEI. I have an article somewhere about how people life strive to achieve "pure Ti" or whatever their leading function is. Unrestrained Ni, I think, is exactly that: being free to dream whatever. For them materialization is less important than unrestrained dreaming, but they admire SLEs who try to materialize all their desires.


So, if you haven't guessed by now, IEI it is!