C.I.T.O.K.A.T.E.

It's not just "do they accept me or not?" That's not directly important. It's "once that's ascertained, do they have a good point?" So, I come right out and ask sometimes, Matt's Quality Assurance Satisfaction Questionnaire. In fact, giving other people a fair hearing so that ideas can compete in my mind on a level playing field is the linchpin of my core values. If I want to live in a world where people will stop insulating their minds from legitimate challenge, I can't be hypocritical. An unfortunate side effect is pondering self-evaluation, such as in this livejournal, can occasionally rise to the level of unnecessary second-guessing. Nevertheless, it's rare to find a mirror that can be held up to the soul, more efficiently than the reports of our fellow man. As long as one is careful to evaluate whether the current circles one runs in are providing a distorted funhouse mirror, one should be OK.