I’m So Pretty
Of late, I have found myself trawling the internet rather more than usual, in order to gather suitable blog-fodder. Reaching into the dim and distant past, I recalled a website that might be worth a re-visit: www.hotornot.com.
For those who aren’t hip, this is a forum for folks to post pictures of themselves, which the internet community will then rate on a 10-point scale. After you have garnered enough ratings, you can view your average score.
In theory, this score will reflect how good-looking you are, and will not be influenced by any narcissistic or self-depreciating biases, nor by the polite diplomacy of your friends. And, from a statistical point of view, the bigger the N, the closer you get to the elusive ‘true’ score. All this is very exciting.
In the name of science, your humble author plucked a suitable photo from his back-catalogue, complete with windswept hair and chipper grin, and threw it into the mix. Some time later, I received an email from the site’s creators, providing me with a score, an interesting statisical breakdown of ratings (there was a clear bimodal distribution, sports fans) and (get this) a Hot or Not badge that I could email to my friends “to prove that [I'm] hot 
“.
OK, so the idea is that I would be in a conversation with my chums, the subject of my looks would arise, there would be a debate, and I would think “Aha! There’s only one way to settle this”. Whilst touted as a bit of fun, there is an undercurrent of utter vanity about all of this. It is clear that these ratings are very important for some.
Some words from the Bible:
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (1 Peter 3:3-4)
Oh, and by the way, your humble author bagged an 8.7. After an initial flurry of rater enthusiasm which propelled the score to a frankly ridiculous 9.1, the inevitable regression toward the mean set in.
Still, bring it on.
December 29, 2006 at 1:34 pm
I don’t wish to insult you but 8.7 is a rather high score. Especially for someone with so many clothes on!
In my experience a score on hotornot is directly proportional to the amount of flesh on show, less conventionally good looking(how diplomatic of me) folk can, and regularly do, attain a high rating by wearing skimpy clothing.
December 29, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Kenny – I share your concerns. Frankly, as a chap who’s always considered himself a solid 5, the result is surprising.
Possible explanations:
1) Visitors to the site have lower-than-average expectations of the human face
2) I happened to be placed amongst very ugly people, and the resultant contrast exaggerated the ratings (but then, I think they appear in a random order)
3) I am a closet Adonis
Perhaps this is the kind of debate they were anticipating when they sent me my official score as a pastable badge. Incidently, I would be interested (again, in the name of science) to submit a photo of me in Speedos, just to see.
Don’t worry, I won’t.