Being an obsessive information worker who never leaves the house, I have to say this article is crap. I set my own hours, relax, take my kids to school, and generally have nothing to complain about.
---------------------------------------------------------- Charles Sheehan-Miles http://www.sheehanmiles.com | email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the free podcast of Insurgent at http://www.sheehanmiles.com -- On Apr 6, 2008, at 5:21 PM, Martin wrote: > Okay, I'll say it. > > There are dumb-a$$es, and there are those this article reports on. > > ravenadal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06sweat.html?ei=5065&en=1c3f36a3531123cb&ex=1208059200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print > > April 6, 2008 > > In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop > > By MATT RICHTEL > > SAN FRANCISCO They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are > paid by the piece not garments, but blog posts. This is the > digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home. > > A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed > with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling > under great physical and emotional stress created by the > around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of > news and comment. > > Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of > the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media > outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are > starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few > months, two among their ranks have died suddenly. > > Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held > for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died > at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc > Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, > survived a heart attack in December. > > Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, > exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing > for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet. > > To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and > the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an > epidemic. There is also no certainty that the stress of the work > contributed to their deaths. But friends and family of the deceased, > and fellow information workers, say those deaths have them thinking > about the dangers of their work style. > > The pressure even gets to those who work for themselves and are > being well-compensated for it. > > "I haven't died yet," said Michael Arrington, the founder and > co-editor of TechCrunch, a popular technology blog. The site has > brought in millions in advertising revenue, but there has been a hefty > cost. Mr. Arrington says he has gained 30 pounds in the last three > years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into > an office for him and four employees. "At some point, I'll have a > nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else > will happen." > > "This is not sustainable," he said. > > It is unclear how many people blog for pay, but there are surely > several thousand and maybe even tens of thousands. > > The emergence of this class of information worker has paralleled the > development of the online economy. Publishing has expanded to the > Internet, and advertising has followed. > > Even at established companies, the Internet has changed the nature of > work, allowing people to set up virtual offices and work from anywhere > at any time. That flexibility has a downside, in that workers are > always a click away from the burdens of the office. For obsessive > information workers, that can mean never leaving the house. > > Blogging has been lucrative for some, but those on the lower rungs of > the business can earn as little as $10 a post, and in some cases are > paid on a sliding bonus scale that rewards success with a demand for > even more work. > > There are growing legions of online chroniclers, reporting on and > reflecting about sports, politics, business, celebrities and every > other conceivable niche. Some write for fun, but thousands write for > Web publishers as employees or as contractors or have started > their own online media outlets with profit in mind. > > One of the most competitive categories is blogs about technology > developments and news. They are in a vicious 24-hour competition to > break company news, reveal new products and expose corporate gaffes. > > To the victor go the ego points, and, potentially, the advertising. > Bloggers for such sites are often paid for each post, though some are > paid based on how many people read their material. They build that > audience through scoops or volume or both. > > Some sites, like those owned by Gawker Media, give bloggers retainers > and then bonuses for hitting benchmarks, like if the pages they write > are viewed 100,000 times a month. Then the goal is raised, like a > sales commission: write more, earn more. > > Bloggers at some of the bigger sites say most writers earn about > $30,000 a year starting out, and some can make as much as $70,000. A > tireless few bloggers reach six figures, and some entrepreneurs in the > field have built mini-empires on the Web that are generating hundreds > of thousands of dollars a month. Others who are trying to turn > blogging into a career say they can end up with just $1,000 a month. > > Speed can be of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, > someone else's post on the subject will bring in the audience, the > links and the bigger share of the ad revenue. > > "There's no time ever including when you're sleeping when you're > not worried about missing a story," Mr. Arrington said. > > "Wouldn't it be great if we said no blogger or journalist could write > a story between 8 p.m. Pacific time and dawn? Then we could all take a > break," he added. "But that's never going to happen." > > All that competition puts a premium on staying awake. Matt Buchanan, > 22, is the right man for the job. He works for clicks for Gizmodo, a > popular Gawker Media site that publishes news about gadgets. Mr. > Buchanan lives in a small apartment in Brooklyn, where his bedroom > doubles as his office. > > He says he sleeps about five hours a night and often does not have > time to eat proper meals. But he does stay fueled by regularly > consuming a protein supplement mixed into coffee. > > But make no mistake: Mr. Buchanan, a recent graduate of New York > University, loves his job. He said he gets paid to write (he will not > say how much) while interacting with readers in a global conversation > about the latest and greatest products. > > "The fact I have a few thousand people a day reading what I write > that's kind of cool," he said. And, yes, it is exhausting. Sometimes, > he said, "I just want to lie down." > > Sometimes he does rest, inadvertently, falling asleep at the computer. > > "If I don't hear from him, I'll think: Matt's passed out again," said > Brian Lam, the editor of Gizmodo. "It's happened four or five times." > > Mr. Lam, who as a manager has a substantially larger income, works > even harder. He is known to pull all-nighters at his own home office > in San Francisco hours spent trying to keep his site organized and > competitive. He said he was well equipped for the torture; he used to > be a Thai-style boxer. > > "I've got a background getting punched in the face," he said. "That's > why I'm good at this job." > > Mr. Lam said he has worried his blogging staff might be burning out, > and he urges them to take breaks, even vacations. But he said they > face tremendous pressure external, internal and financial. He said > the evolution of the "pay-per-click" economy has put the emphasis on > reader traffic and financial return, not journalism. > > In the case of Mr. Shaw, it is not clear what role stress played in > his death. Ellen Green, who had been dating him for 13 months, said > the pressure, though self-imposed, was severe. She said she and Mr. > Shaw had been talking a lot about how he could create a healthier > lifestyle, particularly after the death of his friend, Mr. Orchant. > > "The blogger community is looking at this and saying: `Oh no, it > happened so fast to two really vital people in the field,' " she said. > They are wondering, "What does that have to do with me?" > > For his part, Mr. Shaw did not die at his desk. He died in a hotel in > San Jose, Calif., where he had flown to cover a technology conference. > He had written a last e-mail dispatch to his editor at ZDNet: "Have > come down with something. Resting now posts to resume later today or > tomorrow." > > Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company > > > > > > "There is no reason Good can't triumph over Evil, if only angels > will get organized along the lines of the Mafia." -Kurt Vonnegut, "A > Man Without A Country" > > --------------------------------- > You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of > Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
