The New Hacker's Dictionary

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).

General Appearance : Dress : Reading Habits : Other Interests : Physical Activity and Sports : Education : Things Hackers Detest and Avoid : Food : Politics : Gender and Ethnicity : Religion : Ceremonial Chemicals : Communication Style : Geographical Distribution : Sexual Habits : Personality Characteristics : Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality : Miscellaneous :

General Appearance

Intelligent. Scruffy. Intense. Abstracted. Surprisingly for a sedentary profession, more hackers run to skinny than fat; both extremes are more common than elsewhere. Tans are rare.

Dress

Casual, vaguely post-hippie; T-shirts, jeans, running shoes, Birkenstocks (or bare feet). Long hair, beards, and moustaches are common. High incidence of tie-dye and intellectual or humorous 'slogan' T-shirts (only rarely computer related; that would be too obvious).