Demographics of planet MeFi

January 3, 2003 12:00 PM

Not so much a feature as a one-time feature. The thread on tort reform (quite entertaining and refreshingly civil, given the number of comments it spawned) left me surprised that so many MeFites are attorneys. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
But I often wonder about the demographics of planet MeFi.
Isn't there a simple way we could have a town census (a/s/l occupation etc. It would be mildly fascinating to have such info in our profiles as well, but maybe thats raising the veil too high.
posted by BentPenguin to feature requests at 12:00 PM (43 comments total)

as long as it all comes with a check box that says "I (AM/AM NOT) interested in giving out free professional advice". I'm a librarian. I will answer your reference questions for free [within reason] but I doubt all the MeFi lawyers feel the same way about their skillset.
posted by jessamyn at 12:19 PM on January 3, 2003

BP, why not start the ball rolling by including your occupation in your profile (which is strangely empty except that you are Dan Quayle).

Me: architect. You: ex-VP. Architects are notoriously bad spellers. We have something in common already. ;-)
posted by Dick Paris at 12:20 PM on January 3, 2003

None of you will believe that I am a fluffer by trade, so what's the point?
posted by machaus at 12:22 PM on January 3, 2003

Domestic executive and house despot.
posted by konolia at 12:26 PM on January 3, 2003

PR flack/freelance hack.
Leaning more toward the freelance side every day.
posted by me3dia at 12:31 PM on January 3, 2003

I am also an attorney, although I held no strong opinion on the tort reform issue, and so did not comment in that thread. I (AM NOT) willing to give out free advice.
posted by yhbc at 12:31 PM on January 3, 2003

And I believe you, machaus. I think I may have even seen some of your work.
posted by yhbc at 12:33 PM on January 3, 2003

I'm Inspector 34. You may have seen my handiwork.
posted by eyeballkid at 12:43 PM on January 3, 2003

I got the feeling that lawyers on MetaFilter preferred if people didn't think of them that way, and only mentioned it in cases where it added credibility or experience to what they had to say.

I strongly doubt that any sane attorney on MetaFilter would advertise the fact on a Google-able page (even though I tell google not to cache user pages, it still indexes them and returns them in results for keyword matches, like this)
posted by mathowie at 12:56 PM on January 3, 2003

thanks as always for the wonderful snark, but I had in mind an agregated demographic in mind as in:

36% of respondants are attys
1% works in (pre-)porn
65% are from the US
6% are female
Age (real)
Age (effective)
posted by BentPenguin at 1:03 PM on January 3, 2003

I'm a cubicle rat (Web strain) and I'd be happy to give out free advice.
posted by timeistight at 1:07 PM on January 3, 2003

I am not an attorney.

(And BP, it does seem an odd point for someone with such an uninformative user page to be raising.)
posted by languagehat at 1:08 PM on January 3, 2003

BP, unfortunately, job descriptions are "dirty" data types. If I left it free-form, the data would be close to useless because I might call myself a 'designer/programmer' while someone in the same field might say 'sysadmin' or 'lead developer' or 'code monkey'

The alternate is to make use a standard set of professions and jobs within each (you've probably seen them at job sites), but I find those are rarely ever specific, and I'm forced to either put myself in IT, Arts, or Internet, depending on the options available.

Someone could setup an off-site survey if they were so inclined, and I'd post the link to it on the sidebar and metatalk.
posted by mathowie at 1:10 PM on January 3, 2003

I agree w/ mathowie...I am currently an architecture student [hey Dick Paris], but I am also do some web design on the side, and I am an artist. So what category do I fall into? I think this could be a cool feature, as long as an opt-out is available. But an opt-in list of expertise areas, ie- web design, gardening, cooking, drawing, physics [whatever] that you could self-rate on a scale of 1-10 could be made available. This repository where be a place where one could go and ask a question, and receive a specific answer. Kind of like a public library of people who are willing to offer advise or ideas about topics. Or a free google answers. Now that I think of it, google answers pretty much covers it.
posted by plemeljr at 1:24 PM on January 3, 2003

machaus, is this you? Ahh, I thought so.
posted by ashbury at 1:25 PM on January 3, 2003

I confess that I'm idly curious about MeFi demographics, too... although not curious enough to do anything about it, other than fill out whatever survey someone else comes up with.
posted by RylandDotNet at 1:25 PM on January 3, 2003

Look, lady. This job is not what I really do, OK? I play keyboards.
posted by PrinceValium at 1:26 PM on January 3, 2003

I'm Inspector 34. You may have seen my handiwork.

You misspelled missile, too.
posted by y2karl at 1:47 PM on January 3, 2003

Jesus, y2karl! Quit picking on the kid.
posted by timeistight at 1:53 PM on January 3, 2003

And Karl, here, is a professional pedant.
posted by yhbc at 1:54 PM on January 3, 2003

I'm not an attorney. I just play one on MetaFilter.
posted by pardonyou? at 2:00 PM on January 3, 2003

do you have categories for filing tax in the usa? here in chile i'm allocated a code that reflects my job. not perfect, but it gives a well-defined set of possible values: i'm an 83291 (not as prime as it looks, and not mindblowingly useful - the translation is "unclassified professional and technical services")
posted by andrew cooke at 2:02 PM on January 3, 2003

I'm not a mefite. I just play one at work
posted by liam at 2:05 PM on January 3, 2003

Mathowie brings up some sticky points. I say I am an architect, and I have a license to prove it but I do not practice much. I do know a lot about architecture, although it is a profession so varied that many specialities exist within it: similar to our case with lawyers and web jockeys. I also enjoy woodworking, photography, long walks in the woods and snuggling in bed. I have dark brown hair and hazel eyes. (I am reminded right now of "Airplane!".)
posted by Dick Paris at 2:08 PM on January 3, 2003

I've played with attorneys every day for fifteen years in my job.
posted by oh posey at 2:09 PM on January 3, 2003

I tweak J. Lo's nipples for a living.
posted by dhoyt at 2:37 PM on January 3, 2003

It's not what you do, it's what you DO.
posted by rushmc at 2:41 PM on January 3, 2003

I'm a homunculus. Duh.
posted by homunculus at 2:44 PM on January 3, 2003

i shimmy shimmy shimmy til the break of dawn, yeah.
posted by quonsar at 2:44 PM on January 3, 2003

I dropped out of Law School, BentPenguin
posted by matteo at 2:56 PM on January 3, 2003

I'm a mild mannered ad exec by day, superhero by night - unless there's something good on tv.

I think that if you spend enough time hanging around mefi you get a good feel for your fellow mefiers, and couldn't someone who wanted to list their occupation do so in their profile?

Demographic information isn't something I think would be too telling, once you're in here there's a good chance you'll turn into a geeky fanboy who debates the middle east as a hobby, near as I can figure.
posted by Salmonberry at 3:08 PM on January 3, 2003

You misspelled missile, too.

Ladies and jelly-spoons, if you're at a comic book store, pick up an issue of The EyeballKid by Eddie Campbell. The actual quote is "I'm on a missile of vengeance," which, in context, should read: "I'm on a mission of vengeance." You will find that the EyeballKid stories feature his mal-aligned and -justed, mis-pronounced and m!spellt dialogue, something I'm sure would send timeistight, y2karl and languagehat into a tizzy. My mangled version of the quote was a intentional, just like Mssr. 2karls' intention of being a total ass.
posted by eyeballkid at 4:33 PM on January 3, 2003

Which thread was about tort reform? I'd like to read that, but I sure can't find it.
posted by wackybrit at 4:33 PM on January 3, 2003

I've been in a tizzy since before you were born, sonny, but I can't actually recall trying to pick a fight with you. In fact, I was coming to your defense.
posted by timeistight at 4:37 PM on January 3, 2003

ahh. Sorry timeistight, I unintentionally slipped your name in there. ;)
posted by eyeballkid at 4:41 PM on January 3, 2003

im oh poseys husband.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:09 PM on January 3, 2003

wackybrit - maybe this?
posted by andrew cooke at 5:27 PM on January 3, 2003

Which thread was about tort reform?

This one. (It would help if FPP's identified the topic of the post, btw.)
posted by PrinceValium at 5:41 PM on January 3, 2003

I tweak J. Lo's nipples for a living.

dhoyt: If you're looking to moonlight, here's an opportunity. (possibly NSFW)
posted by Wet Spot at 5:57 PM on January 3, 2003

Jusst teezin', Juhn Keeyew Sensuhtiv, butt thannks fer cleering uup thhe misterree ov tha kwoat.
posted by y2karl at 6:48 PM on January 3, 2003

I would be happy to receive and tabulate such a survey.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:07 PM on January 3, 2003

Upon reflection, I think BP's suggestion is interesting. (Still wary of the ex-VP's motives tough ;-)
posted by Dick Paris at 10:41 PM on January 3, 2003

The demographics of MeFi would be fascinating, but it would be pretty hard to collect a representative sample, particularly given that half the members are paranoid about privacy and the other half will lie to make themselves look better.
posted by dg at 2:29 PM on January 5, 2003