MIT Students Invent 'Gaydar' Software

[Guest]

This isn't exactly groundbreaking research. It's been known for years now that you can extrapolate information about people from collections of other information related to them. This is already being used on a smaller level with grocery store discount cards, online retailers, music personalization software, and search engines. An even older practice which achieves the same results is profiling. Contemporary social networking just makes it easier.

 

[ukgooey]

[citation][nom]troy howard[/nom]lol....i don't like gay people[/citation]
And gay people don't like you. I'm guessing straight people don't like you either.

[citation][nom]T-How[/nom]haha i think queers are dumb[/citation]
In which case you are queer. Have some false logic dummy.

 

[megamanx00]

Hah, that's crazy. I'm sure that it has some degree of accuracy, but I think it goes out the window for the few of those who want to have the most friends and friend everyone they see and their cat (why people give their pets pages I'll never know). Wonder what kind of issues this could have if employers ever start using something like this.

 

[ravewulf]

[citation][nom]ta152h[/nom]Is this really useful? I mean, everyone can pretty much tell a homo from a hetero in real life, and if they can't, they need more than a software program to help them.[/citation]

It's actually more difficult than you would think. I don't act or appear any different from my straight peers, and yet I'm gay. The only people you can really tell are those who are "MTV gay" or "Jack gay" (Will & Grace ref.) or if they display PDA. There are also some straight men who appear to exhibit the gay stereotype. So, no. You can't tell for sure most of the time IRL.

 

[bigalfantasy2004]

This story reminds me of that King of Queens episode where the Tivo recorded shows like Will and Grace, Queer as Folk, and The L Word for him, and he goes "Tivo thinks I'm gay!" I believe Project Gaydar was created by two guys with too much time on their hands.

 

[gazorgan]

I guess then I'm a Pornbot based on my twitter following, and i do MLM and Forex on the side.

 

[Ramar]

This is a pretty offensive concept to be honest.

 

[tony_wilson]

Has anyone ever seen that episode that Steve Colbert interviewed that British guy that invented a gaydar. LOL good times.

 

[Major7up]

They can't find out anything about you if you are absent from all social networks in the first place. I prefer to stay in touch via email/phone/in-person with all my friends. It's too much work and too impersonal to maintain all that social networking crap. I am very happy without it.

 

[omnimodis78]

All this time I was rather sure that I was openly gay, but I guess I was wrong given that almost all my friends are straight. Hmmm, I suppose my partner is just a phase...

 

[anhxeom]

Next month some gay MIT student will invent a "stealth" counter measures against the Gaydar......

 

[homerhellboy223]

[citation][nom]ta152h[/nom]Is this really useful? I mean, everyone can pretty much tell a homo from a hetero in real life, and if they can't, they need more than a software program to help them. Online, do you really care? As long as the risk of them grabbing my butt is zero, I don't care at all if a guy is gay or not. Should I?The other side is, now they will have homosexuals worried about how they act online. Is that really fair to them? Don't they have enough problems dealing with how they act in real life? Now they have to worry online too. Good grief.[/citation]
[citation][nom]ta152h[/nom]Is this really useful? I mean, everyone can pretty much tell a homo from a hetero in real life, and if they can't, they need more than a software program to help them. Online, do you really care? As long as the risk of them grabbing my butt is zero, I don't care at all if a guy is gay or not. Should I?The other side is, now they will have homosexuals worried about how they act online. Is that really fair to them? Don't they have enough problems dealing with how they act in real life? Now they have to worry online too. Good grief.[/citation]

my wise and beautiful friend

 

[ArgleBargle]

It's easy to tell if someone is gay on Facebook. If they are male and looking for men, or female and looking for women, POW! dead ringer.

Also, gay people fill out the most FABulous quizzes!

 

[christop]

This so stupid... WHO CARES!!! And to the people who post don't grab my ass and I won't care.DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF. A good bit of comments are anti gay .Well f u I am a HOMO AND I think you probably don't like people of color either.. GET OUT OF THE STICKS REDNECKS....

 

[ta152h]

[citation][nom]Curnel_D[/nom]First, this is very clearly a class programming project. Most often, these projects are funny, sarcastic, wastes of time. Second, why should a homosexual care about the way he acts online? If a homosexual is ashamed or worried about what other people think, they should probably step back and take time to examine their lives real seriously, not wasting it wondering if their 'friends' in programming class will start to notice them staring at their asses.[/citation]

Did you not get from this being published here, that this is kind of beyond a prank? Now if you're gay, you have to worry about more stuff.

Maybe your gaydar isn't very good, but, don't impose your limitations on other people. I've known people were gay before they did. OK, I'm exaggerating, but it sounded good.

I never said I have anything against them. I've been hit on by fruits before, and it didn't even bother me, except I was wondering why they thought I might be one of them . One thing I don't like is they are more persistent than a girl that likes you, and even after being rebuffed, will, for whatever reason, not give up 100%.

But, regardless, I think most homos don't want the world knowing they are. If you believe it's a lifestyle choice, you're a fool. People are born that way, and that's pretty close to being proven. So, they can't help wanting other men, but, in this society, it's still a very negative thing to do, so they are often better keeping it hidden from people in a position to influence their lives. I'm not saying in all cases, but in some, certainly.

Probably on the net they felt they could be more of themselves, but, even in subtle ways, they can be discovered. Did they really have to know this?

 

[rooket]

[citation][nom]tricurious[/nom]I can usually pick out which guys are gay, they are the unusually charming, well dressed, good looking men who don't have a wife, yet their house is actually clean. The rest are straight.[/citation]

Also not true. I know several married guys with kids that fit this description, whom previously were single. One of which has twins now.

 

[abhik]

Whats a facebook?

 

[ukgooey]

[citation][nom]rooket[/nom]Also not true. I know several married guys with kids that fit this description, whom previously were single. One of which has twins now.[/citation]
You know married guys that don't have wives? Whoa, headfuck!

 

[zorreck]

vv

 

[zorreck]

Lies, damn lies, and statistics... Human behavior is subject to statistics/probability. We think, learn, behave in PATTERNS. We see the world in patterns. My point being here that if that were not true, psychologists and statisticians would not be able to make general predictions about human behavior on large scales.

What's a big deal about this "new" software program to find out who's a cock sucker and who's a pussy eater? It does not impress me in anyway. Based on your personality profile, a program can be written to predict with which hand you will jerk off the day after tomorrow... But who gives a flying one?