Appendix B. A Portrait of J. Random Hacker
This profile reflects detailed comments on an earlier ‘trial
balloon’ version from about a hundred Usenet respondents. Where
comparatives are used, the implicit ‘other’ is a randomly selected
segment of the non-hacker population of the same size as hackerdom.
An important point: Except in some relatively minor respects such as
slang vocabulary, hackers don't get to be the way they are by imitating each
other. Rather, it seems to be the case that the combination of personality
traits that makes a hacker so conditions one's outlook on life that one tends
to end up being like other hackers whether one wants to or not (much as
bizarrely detailed similarities in behavior and preferences are found in
genetic twins raised separately).
