Is mensa generally respected? I've always figured it was a pseudo-scam for intellectually competitive people, since one has to pay to take their test (and no sample tests are available.
The idea is that you can socialize with people who have a significantly higher intelligence than the average person (I believe 1 in 50 intelligence is the requirement to get in).
I knew someone who went into it with these expectations only to find the community largely concerned with their own intellectual superiority. As your IQ is explicitly a score based on the relation to others' IQs and only implies you might be capable of meaningful contribution to society, these groups may not fulfill their intentions. Again this is second-hand; some of you may have had a different experience with Mensa.
I have heard of better societies that provide a good forum for communication between profoundly intelligent individuals (Glia, IQuadrivium, Triple Nine), but I would argue the greatest benefit for IQ testing these kinds of people is to provide resources for the undiscovered geniuses. In the vast majority of cases they are recognized as a result of their schooling, but all the IQ-test rage is worth it for the rare diamond in the rough whose unconventional nature disguises his abilities. I believe it was Da Vinci who said: "Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered- either by themselves or others."
The national Mensa site in my country is fraught with spelling and punctuation errors. If someone told me they were a member of Mensa, I would assume that they became a member to tell people like me.
I don't know if there are any benefits for being a member in other countries; I fully endorse finding like-minded people and developing new networks and friendships, but I don't see that happening in the local Mensa environment.
My GF is German, and a member of Mensa, and was involved in Germany.
When she moved to the UK and signed up with the local branch here, however, she was horrified by what she saw: self-important pretentious people lazily philosophizing about things they knew nothing about, with little intellectual rigour. The magazine still comes every month, but she wants no more part of it.
I was a bit involved with the university branch of Mensa in Germany, i.e. Mind Hochschulnetzwerk. But my contact with them is mostly through alumni from the Deutsche SchuelerAkademie.
