From: kurt@eskimo.celestial.com (Kurt Cockrum)
Subject: Re: CFD:  Creating an alt.* Newsgroup For Personality Typing Systems
Organization: >>> Eskimo North (206)-FOR-EVER <<<
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 19:24:11 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.184153.14490@netcom.com> noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring) writes:
[...]
>I, as well as many others on Usenet, have developed an interest in systems
>that map human personalities, the Myers-Briggs being the more well-known one.

Well, I guess I have an avocational interest in spoofing and deceiving them
:) .  The internals of such things as MMPI have always been of interest to
me, to the extent I've been able to decipher the arcane jargon and nebulous
concepts :) .
I know that in the past they have been grossly abused by the Powers-That-Be.
(BTW, questions that ask, sarcastically, just *who* *they* are will get
redirected to the usenet oracle :).  How can the ordinary person manipulate
them to his/her benefit?  Forstalling said abuses is one thing that can
be prevented by ordinary people having this information.

>I have personally found the Myers-Briggs to be of great benefit to me.  Not
>only has it helped me to understand myself, it has profoundly helped me to
>relate to other people and to better understand their viewpoints and ways
>of thinking which differ fundamentally from mine.  The dynamics of Usenet
>is one of the great examples illustrating how the different personality
>types interrelate with one another.

If this were to result in, say, the development of neural-network-driven
pattern recognizers that could "deduce" a "personality type" from the
quality of a posting (or better yet, a set of postings) by means of
highly abstract "signatures" that might be present, you'd get a pretty
sophisticated "kill file" facility.  You could keep out all the sourpusses,
for example. :)

This may not be so great for freedom of speech.

Of course, this may be completely off the track :) .  If so, just ignore :) ...

>Of course, the psychological community is highly divided on whether such
>personality mapping systems are really of benefit.  However, such personality
>mapping systems are now used extensively by employers and career counselors
>for employee and educational development, as well as for other related
>purposes.  Whether you believe in them or not, such personality mapping
>systems are here to stay.

Amen to that :( .
There's a gross danger of these becoming tools of oppression and manipulation.
All the more reason to learn how to subvert and manipulate them.  It's
basically an arms race.  I think these things are widely deployed as tools
of social control, to weed out troublemakers and dissidents in any place
where people are *processed* as product.  As a dissident myself, seeking
social change, naturally I'm interested in countermeasures to tools that
purport to do these things.

>Thus, I propose that we create an alt.* group dedicated to discussing the
>Myers-Briggs as well as other systems that exist to map personalities.
>Some topics, among others, that could be discussed include:
>
>1) How to determine ones personality type.
>2) How accurate are such personality mapping systems?  Both pros and cons 
>   would be welcome, even from psychologists.  :^)
>3) Do such systems have hidden dangers?
>4) What is the history of such systems?
>5) Sharing personal stories and anecdotes.
>6) Explaining differing Usenet writing/posting styles (one of great
>   interest to me).
>7) Relating career choices to personality types.
>etc.,etc.

Will people attempt to manipulate their posting styles to fit certain
"good" vs. "bad" criteria that somehow evolve socially?

>Since the Myers-Briggs is by far the most developed and dominant system
>employed today, I'd suggest that we call the newsgroup:
>
>alt.myers-briggs
>
>or
>
>alt.personality.myers-briggs
>
>or
>
>alt.psychology.myers-briggs

I think the name's a little esoteric.

>I am also open to consider a more generic newsgroup name as well.  Suggestions
>are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED (please post your suggestions to alt.config).  One
>generic name I thought of could be called:
>
>alt.personality-types

How about alt.personality-tests ?
That might be a bit Scientological, but they are one of the foremost
practitioners of techniques like this.  It's even one of their street
techniques.  Fits right in IMO.

alt.psychology.metrication?
Maybe IQ measurement systems and other systems of measurement of selected
psychological/psychiatric parameters belong here, too.
-- 
kurt@grogatch.celestial.com (Kurt Cockrum)
Subvert the Anti-Gands!		F-IW	MYOB
Newsgroups: alt.config