foarp
mattsteinglass
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He thinks bloggers are forcing each other to produce more content to stay competitive, and everyone is losing:
I would prefer to write somewhat less—this pace is stressful and doesn’t leave me as much time to pursue other projects and interests. But though I would prefer to write somewhat less, I have a stronger second-order preference to produce a blog that’s competitive with other major offerings on the internet. And over the years competition between bloggers has led to escalating word-counts. The resulting situation isn’t terrible, there are lots of people you should cry for before you get to me, but basically we bloggers are engaged in a red queen’s race where we all need to keep trying harder and harder just to maintain our positions.
In Amsterdam, the streets are quiet after 6 pm, and by 10 pm the city is as silent as a country town. Why? Because to sell retail goods after 8 pm, you need a special “night store” license, and they only issue one of those per neighborhood, at most. That makes the city considerably less convenient, and in a sense it reduces choice: if you want to buy a beer or a carton of milk at night, you have to walk half a mile. But say there were no restrictions on store hours. What then would happen to the freedom of choice of those who wanted their city to be quiet at night? That would be one good you would be unable to purchase, one choice that would be unavailable. Yglesias wants the freedom to work less. Without a common rule setting performance maximums, that’s the one choice that is not available to him.
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ACCUMULATING PERIPHERALS 
“But say there were no restrictions on store hours. What then would happen to the freedom of choice of those who wanted their city to be quiet at night?”
Couldn’t they move out to the country?
Comment by Marc R April 1, 2009 @ 4:57 amMarc R.
Your recommendation, that those who want their city to be quiet at night should move to the country to get their wish, has been noted.
Comment by Adam April 1, 2009 @ 5:03 amRelax, dude. I’m pretty sure Yglesias doesn’t actually want “blogging production caps.”
Comment by Leo April 1, 2009 @ 6:48 amAs someone who works night shift, I’m glad American stores have the freedom to stay open at night. I also find that the stores are pretty much deserted so I don’t really see the “noise” argument either.
Comment by Noumenon May 15, 2009 @ 5:17 pm