Ok, I have an interesting idea.
Just for fun, let me take the list of cultural groups Esprix identifies himself. What I’ll do is make a list of attributes that I think those groups have. Then I’ll look across the groups and see which attributes show up several times.
Then, I’ll post a profile on Esprix complete with degrees of confidence based on this alone, and he can tell us how close this comes.
To make it really good we should do it on somebody else, too.
Whaddya think?
You can do me. We have gay, white male, sci-fi fan as control categories, and for variables, I’m a weightlifter, a punk rock fan, an editor, a Scrabble fanatic, and a technology geek.
Cool, I’ll chew on it and see what I come up with later tonight, and we’ll see if Esprix gives his permission as well.
Scylla, would you mind doing a rubric for a straight guy? 
Absolutely, but three’s my limit.
Thanks, Scylla, I am really interested in what you come up with.
Straight, white, male. Interested in black clothes, fencing, dead languages, and industrial/electronic music. I’m currently a paralegal aspiring to be an academic.
Is that enough?
MR
If I didn’t already have such great respect for you from your “Ewes Sluts” thread (among others), I’d turn you down.
I’ll bite, as long as you remember two things:
The list I posted is woefully incomplete, but will do for the purposes listed here (and I don’t feel like fleshing it out more, nor do I think I ever could completely to my own satisfaction).
Because the list is incomplete, so will your assessment of me be (although, as said, for a lark, it will suffice for some kind of “baseline”).
Frankly, I think most of what you post will be accurate to me, because I fully admit I possess many stereotypical traits from each of those categories. However, it is the combination of so many different and varied categories that define me as who I am as an individual as well as defines me by those categories.
We are all part of the whole; we are all unique.
Esprix
Thanks for your trust guys. I’ll try to be worthy of it and respectful.
Rather than generalize, I’ll try to be specific, and you can tell me how I do. I’ll also share my reasoning, so you can point out where I’m wrong.
Believe me, the pleasure is all mine. And don’t try too hard to be respectful.
MR
Esprix first:
Gay, white, Male, American, Rice Queen, Musician, Secretary, Rice Queen.
Here’s my guesses:
You make 22k a year. You change jobs every on average once a year. You have a slight build and cultivate an adrogynous look. You are fashion conscience, but in a modern and unconventional way. You keep your hair short, and have no facial hair. You greatly enjoy Neal Stephenson and have read all his books. You speak fast. You play a wind instrument like a lute, something light and airy (2nd guess would be an unusual string instrument.) You are extremely social. You have no pets or if you do it’s something like a bird or a goldfish. You like to eat out or order take out. Failing that you cook something quick and easy. You have a cleanliness fetish. You drive a small import like a civic, or don’t have a car
I would also guess that your relationships are tumultuous and frequent, you travel a lot, and are estranged from at least one parent, probably your father. The first two items are cheating as I’ve read about them in other posts of yours, but I would have guessed them anyway.
Gobear:
You have facial hair. Few people guess that you’re gay unless you tell them. In fact, on the surface, you are the classic man’s man. You wear darker earth tones and leisure around in Jeans and Chambray shirts. You’ve lived in the same place a long time, and have stayed at the same job for quite some time as well. your relationships are few but steady and you remain close to a strong core group of a few very good friends. You’re a seether. In an unpleasant social context you typically don’t get emotional but remain calm and undemonstrative, but you get angry about it later. You don’t edit a newspaper, but rather a regular column in a magazinge, or better yet books. You get along well with your family. You have a workshop, and you own your own house, and have done much of the work in it. You count Heinlein, Dickson, Niven, and Zelazny among your favorite authors. You enjoy solving difficult and involved problems, and are happy when you’re working on them by yourself. The more frustrating the problem, the more you like it. You’re a good cook, but rarely anything fancy. You drive a largish sedan, suv, or pickup truck: No sportscars or minivans for you. It’s old reliable, and well maintained.
Maeglin:
You’re the classic iconoclast. You enjoy doing things in an unconventional way. In your work you tend to avoid or mistrust the easy answer or the classic solution. Your hair is longish, and you are whippet thin. You work out in ways to develop flexibility and strength which does not show on the surface. You have disdain for those that seek to build large showy muscles. People like you and go to you for advice, but are somewhat uncomfortable around you, especially if they don’t know you very well. You live a spartan lifestyle, and I’m surprised you use the internet. You’re probably not a technophile. People consider you deep, and you never speak without fully considering what you will say. I’ll bet you’ve studied the Napoleanic Code, and other esoteric laws. You don’t have a TV, but you have a radio. You only have a car if you live in an area that requires one, and if you do, it’s a probably a classic, probably European, but not a flashy car. You tend to be understated. You have fulfilling relationships with attractive and smart women, but aren’t particularly interested in settling down. You are either a superior cook or you don’t cook at all. I can’t decide.
How’d I do?
On the whole, Scylla, you were on the money.
[quote]
You have facial hair. (NO) Few people guess that you’re gay unless you tell them. In fact, on the surface, you are the classic man’s man.(YES) You wear darker earth tones and leisure around in Jeans and Chambray shirts.(YES) You’ve lived in the same place a long time, and have stayed at the same job for quite some time as well.**(NO, but I only moved here 2 years ago)**your relationships are few but steady and you remain close to a strong core group of a few very good friends.YES You’re a seether. In an unpleasant social context you typically don’t get emotional but remain calm and undemonstrative, but you get angry about it later.YES You don’t edit a newspaper, but rather a regular column in a magazine, or better yet books.YES-books You get along well with your family.YES/NO You have a workshop, and you own your own house, and have done much of the work in it.Not yet. I rent, but I want to buy You count Heinlein, Dickson, Niven, and Zelazny among your favorite authors.YES You enjoy solving difficult and involved problems, and are happy when you’re working on them by yourself. The more frustrating the problem, the more you like it.YES You’re a good cook, but rarely anything fancy.YES You drive a largish sedan, suv, or pickup truck: No sportscars or minivans for you.pick up It’s old, reliable, and well maintained.YES
All in all, it’s like you know me.
That was a lot better than I thought I’d do. Actually, Gobear you were the easiest, as we share a lot in common.
I doubt I’ll do so well with the rest.
I felt really confident about the facial hair though. Damn.
I am quite impressed, to say the least. Some of these issues have perhaps come out in my posts, but as you admitted that you knew some facts beforehand about gobear, I trust you would have done the same with me.
Hmm…a classic iconoclast. I like that. Both very traditional yet…iconoclastic. This is slightly off in my ordinary professional life, in which I can be complacent. But as far as my real work is concerned, this is absolutely dead on. I was rather known in school by my colleages and my teachers for having an excellent “bullshit meter.” I am not very forgiving of what I consider to be shoddy or unoriginal scholarship.
Yes and no. I have a 28" waist on a good day, but my hair is extremely short. If it weren’t naturally wavy, it would probably be long, though.
That’s splitting the arrow, Scylla. Nuff said. I rather like being much stronger than I look. Not to mention the fact that muscle bulk is terrible for fencing.
So very, very true. Wow.
Absolutely correct. I do not own a TV. I only have an internet connection in my home out of necessity. I went well over a year without one. My apartment itself is quite spartan.
Yes and yes, except when I shoot from the hip. Almost always disastrous. I do get that deep shit a lot, despite my protestations of transparency. I am vindicated by the fact that you have been right about almost everything.
Napoleonic Code, Justinian Code, Laws of the Twelve Tables, Lycurgean law, etc. The list goes on.
Yes.
Yes. I live in New York City. If I had a car, I would probably want a Saab.
Understated? Definitely. Had a fulfilling relationship with a smart and attractive woman? Absolutely. But I would have settled down, if it had worked out. Now, on the other hand, it is the last thing on my mind.
When I cook I am all right. I always think I should be a better cook that I really am.
Excellent show, overall. Do we get to see how you did it?
MR
This is fun. I think Scylla should open a thread devoted to sussing our Doper personalities based on a few salient facts.
stoid
I definitely think Scylla should try assessing a female.
He can do me, if he thinks he’s man enough.
Scylla
Could you describe what the items on your list of attributes have to do with the “cultural groups” that these posters identify with? It seems to me that you’ve projected their personalities based on a few facts that they’ve described about themselves and their interests, and - quite likely - a lot of information that you may have some conscious or subconscious recollection of from these boards. All in all, it seems very similar to standard palm-reading techniques.
A better test would be to have a poster with a very low post count give you information about the actual “cultural groups” that they are a part of (e.g. race and sexuality, as per this OP), and see what you can do with that.
Izzy beat me to the point I wanted to make. Also, I’d still like to know the answer to the question, if a “black man” – any black man – rejects “his culture,” what exactly is he rejecting?
Well, there are bits and pieces out there of objective evidence of differing racial cultures in the U.S. (to avoid the race debate, let’s just go with self-identified race and leave it at that). Examples include the large disparities in television viewing habits: (1) the most popular shows amongst black and white viewers are utterly different (until last year, where some convergence occurred), and (2) blacks watch more television than whites; music-buying habits, fashion, etc. Do these and other differences make a “culture”? Dunno, but something has to explain the differences.
Sua