in reply to RE: Before You Post ...
in thread Before You Post ...
I am not "forgetting what it can be like to be a newbie." Every time I read a post by chromatic, merlyn, or too many others to mention here, I know that I am still a newbie when it comes to Perl. On many occasions an experienced Monk has offered me guidance and advice. In turn, I try to offer guidance and advice to monks who are less experienced than I (I heard a rumor that one or two Monks qualify).
The posts that I mentioned as examples of the most egregious offenders were not, in my opinion, newcomers to the language. The first two posts (see note below) were in excess of 500 lines of code and the third had a make install listing comprised of over 250 lines of output! With the possible exception of the make install poster, these were not newcomers. Newcomers, in my opinion, do not write 500 line scripts, much less post them.
My concern is with those monks who don't seem to understand the problem with posting excessive amounts of code to ask a question about a why their four line while loop isn't working. Having to scroll through several pages to get to the point (sort of like my reply, huh?) can be very annoying. I suppose if we didn't care to try, we would simply ignore those posts. Regarding my original examples, with the exception of the make install post (which wasn't Perl), Monks took the time to go through 500 lines of code for a complete stranger in an attempt to help. I am merely suggesting some basic posting etiquette.
On a side note, I would like to point out that if you scroll through the responses, I actually answered the second post with reasonably detailed information on how the poster could use the debugger to resolve the poster's problem. While this thread makes it clear that I would prefer posters not to do that, I'm still going to help if I can.
Please, go to my home node. I have quite a number of posts and many, if not most, are my attempting to help others. Most of these others, due to my limitations with Perl, are newcomers to the language. I will never forget what it's like to be a newcomer and in turn be the object of scorn or derision of those who have forgotten. That's somewhat of a burning issue with me (for personal reasons that I won't go into here). I am truly sorry if my post came across as negative to newcomers to Perl. I welcome them. A language without newcomers is a dead language.
Note: The first two examples were both by vnpandey. Had I realized that he was the author of the second post, I would have chosen another example so as not to single anyone out.