I've seen a trend growing in the profiles created or updated in the past 6 months or so and wonder where it came from and why it's gaining so much traction. People are saying, "my friends would say I am..." or "my family think I am..."
Why do people think it's informative to say what they imagine others think of them or what others have said of them? Wouldn't it be better to just say what they think of themselves? A third party's opinion is pretty much meaningless to me since my tastes and values are likely different than theirs just as people's opinions of movies and foods have no sway over my own opinions of those things because I recognize that we are different people.
A third party's view (real or imagined) rather than a personal view is just another level of removal from what we're trying to share in our profiles: information about ourselves. A person's opinion of themselves is still not going to heavily influence my own opinion of them, but it at least tells me something about them by giving me their own perspective rather than someone else's.
It's like playing the telephone game. The closer to the origin of the information, the more accurate and meaningful it is. And "I think I am..." is closer to the source than "I think they think I am..."
Where did this trend come from and what do you think of it? And, no, I don't want to know what you think someone else thinks of it; own and share your own opinions. :P