in reply to Chapter 714: The Long Chapter
My answers:
- Is Perl Monks a strong community in its own
right, a faction of the Perl community at large, or
both?
I think both. It is a strong community which is fed
into by the larger Perl community. It does not itself
influence the direction of Perl but includes some people
who have an influence on that. Incidentally people who
think that there is just one Perl community should reflect
on why Larry Wall calls his talk the annual State of the
Onion.
- Does Perl Monks have its own internal factions of
people easily swayed by emotion or awe or demagoguery, or
is every member an individual who forms fluid alliances
based on his/her ethical stances and ability to reason?
Obviously Perl Monks has internal factions. Any group
this size does. However on the whole it seems to do better
than most groups. And I say that despite having
encountered some problems rather early on.
- Would you say that Perl Monks actually is a
monastery?
No. But if it were I think that a Buddhist monastery
would be a better mindset for reasons I
explained elsewhere. Those who don't
know much about Buddhism may also find this
to be interesting. (I am not a Buddhist.)
Another point. Real monasteries under the surface have
tremendous amounts of politicking going on. Therefore
if Perl Monks has that, then it is true to the original.
- Would retaining voting on nodes but getting rid of
XP negate the opportunity for the power-hungry to make up
the rules by putting together factions of votes?
I don't think we currently have problems with such
power-hungry people. We have people concerned that they
may exist, but I don't see them.
The one tendancy that does exist is to vote on the person,
not the post. The current system encourages that pretty
directly. However I think that enough (starting with me)
complain about the practice that most are aware of why
voting on the post is preferable.
- How did the practice of banning white shoes after
Labor day finally go out of practice, and why did it exist
in the first place?
Ya got me with that one! I am looking forward to hearing
the answer...
- Is Slashdot a grand failure or a notable success
as an online community of self-described nerds?
As Yogi Berra said about a restaurant, "Nobody goes there
any more, it is too popular."
- Would you question everything? Or do you believe
that some questions go too far and it should be
incorporated into the rules that certain things should be
left unsaid?
I suggest that there are some things, the saying of which
is unwarranted. However people shouldn't shy away from
questions just because they are hard. You present an
interesting list. Some are real problems, as the Red
Queen told Alice, "Sometimes you have to keep running just
to stand still." Perl is definitely in that position.
However about princepawn. Personally I have never seen
anyone who so consistently misses the point. This was
merely irritating for me. However the reason why I am
personally going to weep no tears was his behaviour in
the CB. Excuse me, but we don't need someone saying that
he thought there are no decent female programmers. And
when requested to not have the sexist remarks, there was
no need for him to come back with graphic sexual imagery...
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