Sure, the defaults are elegant, but they are constant reminders that you’re ultimately building castles in someone else’s sandbox, which is sad and unfortunate when you’re trying to build the coolest castle you can.
This is about far more than merely being able to customize the look of your site, although that is clearly important too.
I wish there were a way to quantify effectiveness rather than efficiency. It is surely effectiveness that matters.
the United States is exceptional, in a very bad way.
It's not the only country that's exceptional, but it is exceptionally bad.