openpolitics.com

It’s Comments All the Way Down

Reagle’s initial engagement with his subject arises out of his own admitted status as what he calls a “maximizer,” a person who “must be assured that every decision is optimal.” Maximizers, he writes, “spend hours reading reviews and feel disappointed when an item falls short of expectations or is surpassed by a new model. They suffer from the fear that they could have made a better decision; this is the paradox of increased information and choice.”