Every so often someone or other starts a thread talking about how Socionics is B.S. because no-one can agree on typings. I just thought I'd point out the real reason why there's so little agreement on typings.

In order to accurately type a person, you have to:
a) Have an accurate understanding of Socionics theory, and,
b) Have an in-depth understanding of the subject's personality.

Consequently, socionists can be divided into four categories:
1) Those who understand the theory but not the people,
2) Those who understand the people but not the theory,
3) Those who understand neither,
4) Those who understand both.

If you assume an even distribution, only 1/4 of socionists (Group 4) would be capable of producing reliable typings. This is made even more difficult by the fact that we're all communicating via the Internet, and the only subjects we have in common to compare notes on are celebrities and other forum members. In both cases, the lack of face-to-face interaction makes it much more difficult to get an in-depth understanding of the subject's personality.

None of this means that socionics is B.S., any more than the fact that advanced calculus is difficult makes math B.S.