Hackathons are group think - if you don't go along with the hysteria, you are not in sync with the group think.

But IME great programmers don't work that way. The best programmers I have known did not start by coding - they started by thinking and mentally designing.

The very term "hack" used to be derisive. Somehow it has been converted into a glorification how "hacking" (chopping) out code - i.e., code intentionally not thought through or designed. As if that could lead to anything great!...