A Methodologically Sound Hot Or Not?

May 7, 2008 7:20 PM

FaceStat, a new startup from crowdsourcing consultants at Delores Labs bills itself as "market research for the individual." You upload a photo of yourself, and "within a couple hours, you will have detailed statistics about how people feel about the picture you provide." Oh, and it's powered by creepers like you, using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (previously posted about here).

And yes, you do get to rate people on attractiveness. And for money!

posted by thisjax (37 comments total)

What can this do that can't be accomplished by posting my picture on hot or not or asking myself "am I drunk?"
posted by bunnytricks at 7:30 PM on May 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'll tell you in an hr or so...
posted by kristinahoge at 7:34 PM on May 7, 2008

I hope people put very little stock into the answers FaceStat gives them.
posted by bryanzera at 7:35 PM on May 7, 2008

That is damn pathetic.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:35 PM on May 7, 2008

You are following the money. You have hit a dead end.

You are holding: *bag empty*

You can go: BACKWARDS

>
posted by DU at 7:38 PM on May 7, 2008 [3 favorites]

Puts bag on face.
posted by Null Pointer and the Exceptions at 7:43 PM on May 7, 2008

Uh, the concept is somewhat interesting, but the execution is terrible. The choices are so limited and are clearly all derisory. For example, the choices in intelligence are just "genius, bright, dull, and (moron?)" Those aren't exactly judgement-free labels and there's no 'average intelligence' option. You're either bright or dull.

Why do I think its interesting? Because, as the owner of a small business, it seems useful to be able to test my marketing message with complete strangers and at some larger amount of exposure than I might be able to get from a sample of my friends. Unfortunately, this doesn't really do the job very well.
posted by PigAlien at 7:44 PM on May 7, 2008

What happened here? Were there too many competing "rate me!" apps on Facebook, so they had to release this on the wider internet instead?
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:51 PM on May 7, 2008

"Creepers" is exactly the appropriate term.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:54 PM on May 7, 2008

there's no 'average intelligence' option.

While your complaint makes sense, PigAllen, I like the smart vs not smart dichotomy. "Average" is, to me, less descriptive and more of a cop out answer. And there is no reason for any hard feelings because it has nothing to do with actual intelligence, only whether or not you "look intelligent."
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 7:58 PM on May 7, 2008

i need a crowd to tell me that someone is caucasian?
posted by kamelhoecker at 8:05 PM on May 7, 2008

Maybe. Despite being roughly half Caucasian and half black, about a third of people who try to guess my ethnicity say Asian.
posted by danb at 8:16 PM on May 7, 2008

I wish I had a picture of myself!
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 8:24 PM on May 7, 2008

well, and after all my kvetching, I got ranked quite satisfactorily, in my opinion! Also, on second inspection, it seems they do have an 'average' intelligence option, although I could swear on my life it wasn't there the first time around...
posted by PigAlien at 9:10 PM on May 7, 2008

I just feel bad for the unattractive, untrustworthy, unfunny demo guy.
posted by dosterm at 9:11 PM on May 7, 2008

When I was born the doctor took one look at my face, turned me over and said, "Look, twins!"

- Rodney Dangerfield
posted by subgear at 10:22 PM on May 7, 2008

I got a laugh from it. I got tagged angsty mad quiet neo-pagan outsider weirdo - all fair enough - and put overwhelmingly in the 18-21 and under-18 age brackets, which I sure as hell won't complain about.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:27 AM on May 8, 2008

Apparently, I look like a drunken conservative Latina.

And someone tagged me "typical". Ouch.
posted by arianell at 2:37 AM on May 8, 2008

I got tagged gay, homosexual, and jerk. Also conservative and untrustworthy. Age and ethnicity were right on.

I think I'm realizing why all my first impressions on people aren't so great.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 2:45 AM on May 8, 2008

Hey shit I just got tagged with goth this isn't funny anymore I want my money back.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:51 AM on May 8, 2008

So why would I care what the Chinese unemployed think of my mugshot?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:54 AM on May 8, 2008

If you ask to see the most trustworthy faces you get pictures of dogs. I'm cheered to see this one has been rated "good lookin" and "hot stuff".
posted by Wolfdog at 6:02 AM on May 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

I got tagged PEHDTSCKJMBA. WTF?
posted by subgear at 6:25 AM on May 8, 2008

I got tagged gay, homosexual, and jerk.

There's probably one chortling kid sitting there tagging every picture he gets with those kinds of terms, having more fun than the time he got perma-banned from XBox Live.
posted by Spatch at 6:25 AM on May 8, 2008

I also got tagged "gay", and suspect it was the same person who said I was Indian and over 70. (I'm white and quite under 70. At least other people were nice, I don't know what I'd do if there weren't strangers on the internet validating my self esteem!)
posted by Solon and Thanks at 7:49 AM on May 8, 2008

I got tagged as "scary," "neocon," "anxious," "nerd," "nice," "earnest" and "intellectual."

I was also tagged about 5 years older than my real age and much like people in real life, I was mistaken for being Indian (though I'm Caucasian).
posted by champthom at 9:29 AM on May 8, 2008

To be more specific, I got "co-ed", "gay", "cute", "easygoing", "nice", "doormat", and "smiles".
posted by Solon and Thanks at 10:28 AM on May 8, 2008

"Worthless" does not seem adequate to describe this. It is like actively worthless, worthless with hostile intent.
posted by Ynoxas at 11:33 AM on May 8, 2008

I am a creep-o and huh but friendly and enthusiastic
I am goofy and awkward but stylish and a player
I seem to elicit opposite reactions from folks. Age guessing was good. Agreed though on the usefulness. If this defines you, you are in a lot of trouble. Fun to play however.
posted by dieselid at 12:10 PM on May 8, 2008

Hm, random people on the internet think I have nice hair.
posted by signalnine at 12:15 PM on May 8, 2008

I love this.

Though I'd disagree that an online survey can be considered "crowdsourcing".
posted by the jam at 2:31 PM on May 8, 2008

Worthless with intent to distribute?
posted by eritain at 4:03 PM on May 8, 2008

I just xeroxed my butt and sent it.
Was that wrong?
posted by Dizzy at 7:15 PM on May 8, 2008

Totally pointless. . .

Until I finish this bottle.

I wonder if this can be interfaced with facebook to create and ultimate social timewaster.
posted by Inversehelix at 8:09 PM on May 8, 2008

oh hey, I managed to totally miss that big facebook picture.


mmm jack daniels. how I love the blinders you put on me.
posted by Inversehelix at 8:10 PM on May 8, 2008

Interesting. I put two photos of mine up and got distinctly odd (aside from merely uncomplimentary) answers. I'm wondering what the results s will be once the replies get into the thousands.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 10:35 PM on May 8, 2008

Heh, I got "quirky," "fun," "genXer," and "stable" from my picture, the internet is kinder than I'd expected! Even so, I wish there were a way to customise the stats at least a little - for myself, I wouldn't expect much variation on things like "ethnicity" so I'm not really interested in that, but I would love to know how random internet strangers perceived me in terms of stuff like "sexual orientation" or "friendliness" or what have you ...
posted by zeph at 7:34 AM on May 9, 2008