Good point. For most usage the difference between a log factor and a constant is pretty much a non-issue. Sure theoretically a log factor will eventually dwarf any constant in the end, but in practice it doesn't tend to work that way.

The general rule of thumb is that an exponential performance issue keeps your program from running, a quadratic one will work fine but keeps you from scaling well, and a logarithmic one is about as big a deal as a poor constant.

(And yes, I know Dominus knows all this. This is for everyone else's benefit.)