I agree, is not consuming prevents creating, it's consuming too much takes time from creating. In that sense, developing a good filter for crap would allow you to consume faster leaving more time for creating.
A second issue is that it's assuming that if you develop an efficient filter for incoming crap, that filter will be applied to what you generate. And that if that filter threshold goes beyond the level of your own ability to create, all you do is crap and you stop creating. The input filter does not have to be the same as the output filter.
You express exactly what I was trying to. If you read HN all day and write no code that is a bad day for creation. If you code as much as you can and broaden your mind by reading HN in your downtime that is probably a good balance.
I find HN is a pretty good filter for incoming crap.
A second issue is that it's assuming that if you develop an efficient filter for incoming crap, that filter will be applied to what you generate. And that if that filter threshold goes beyond the level of your own ability to create, all you do is crap and you stop creating. The input filter does not have to be the same as the output filter.