One theory I have is that there’s some secret “developer full-time employment act” that means these programmers have to do something even if it’s just replicating work that’s already been done. Kind of like New Jersey where every gas station is full serve (that had to be some full employment gambit back in the day).
Sounds like something that could be written today about Vox, Buzzfeed, Gawker, or any of the quixotic CMS projects at Washington Post, NY Times, Conde Nast, et al, but it was actually written in 2007.
One thought on the topic of programmers: It amazes me that the old maxim always adhered to in American life – ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ – isn’t valid anymore.
Especially when it comes to everyday use of electronic media – example is WordPress: Jetpack, just when the layperson thinks he knows how it works, the handle is jerked out of his hands and some new fangled idea/item is hurled at him, which takes him back to square one.
Soul destroying that – heart wrenching what these programmers can do actually.
Talk to any resident in New Jersey and you’ll find that none of us want to pump our own gas. We hate filling up in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut where full service doesn’t even exist as an option.
Sites like those want an endless stream of content. There will always be people trying to make the flow faster, better, steadier, scheduled, etc. About 20 years ago when there were discussions about the information highway, there were concerns about information burnout and overload. I think we are getting to the point of making ourselves crazy. I know people with mobile phones and on Twitter who get panicky about missing any least thing. I check Twitter a few times a day, or sometimes not at all for a few days and I never bought a mobile phone. I like the quiet, the down time. Funny, but it’s only when something is broken that people disconnect for awhile. Programmers, of course, are the people called in to fix the broken and expected to do it all right quick! Not all of it is make-work, some of it will be panic or fear of missing something and having it break down – the chance that something could be missed. The information highway is it’s own vicious circle.