I have noticed a lot of way to categorize people lately. There is Clay Shirky’s One World, Two Maps where he talks about the differences between incrementalists and completionists. (Those names are from this essay that covers the same thing Incrementalists and Completionists[via].) Shirky’s essay pointed to From Pirate Dwarves To Ninja Elves which provides another couple of dimensions on which to classify people. Finally, there is Organics and Mechanics[via].
There is value in simply naming a concept — if you doubt it, just look at all the buzz around Ajax since it got a name. I think this is because it lowers the bandwidth needed to track the concept. Having these names makes classifying the people I know a lot easier. For me, that turns out to be fairly helpful because it allows me to more easily tailor my interactions with them. Even if you do not find it helpful it is still an interesting set of articles to read because it gives you a little insight into how others might be categorizing you.