

When non-technologists write about technology: about The Economist's "Technology in 2008" - hhm
http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/12/when-non-techno.html

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Jd
As a friend of mine has pointed out to me repeatedly, the quality of the
Economist's reporting has decreased substantially since they vamped up their
online offerings, often pushing stories before they are ready and without the
reflection that was the signature of the Economist. This piece is especially
disappointing.

~~~
ereldon
Jd, I'm an Economist reader because I enjoy its perspective on important
political and economic issues.

What else has been slipping, do you think? Can you (or your friend) be more
specific?

Thanks.

~~~
Jd
Ereldon,

The Economist has been pushing out shorter pieces on their website which
generally aren't as good as the longer ones that find their way into print. It
is possible the need for increased production has stretched the staff and made
quality drop across the board; I'm not sure. In some ways it is symptomatic of
all web media: greater quantity, shorter time to market, but generally less
attached reflection and quality. I see it as akin to Americans general
preference for filling their houses with many cheap things instead of fewer
better things. I'm not sure if this is a function of the local culture or the
capitalist system; either way one hopes to help the web evolve in a better
way.

One other deficiency, IMHO, is the slipping ethical standards. One recent
Economist article on Mao's management style concluded with an incredibly
pessimistic couple sentences about how it doesn't really matter how many
unethical things you do, so long as you aren't caught and forced to reckon
before you die.

In any case, I stopped reading the Economist cover to cover about a year ago.

~~~
davidw
You have to have a strategy for reading it. Mine:

1) Editorials

2,3) US news, European news

4) Business

5) Obit

6) Science&Tech

7) Finance

8) Americas news

9) Asia news.

...) Special inserts, other various bits and pieces.

Last) Britain news.

Or something like that!

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whacked_new
"The biggest road-hog remains spam (unsolicited e-mail), which accounts for
90% of traffic on the internet."

<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21376597/>

"Peer-to-peer applications account for between 50 percent and 90 percent of
overall Internet traffic, according to a survey this year by ipoque GmbH, a
German vendor of traffic-management equipment."

In other news, 90% of internet traffic was found to be dissemination of
agenda.

~~~
projectileboy
Actually, I have to apologize... _I_ have been using 90% of the internets. I
left on my internets switch when I left the house last year. Sorry everyone.

------
zoltz
The Economist is never wrong. But who is "pmarca".

~~~
nextmoveone
...and co-founder of Ning.

~~~
sharpshoot
and opsware

