I'm a newbie (at least with respect to time) and have only been active on PM for a little over two months. If this post reflects my ignorance, please pardon it.

In that short time I've seen several posts about how to improve PM. From the outside (of the cabal that is), it looks like all these suggestions get made and lost. Sometimes you will see hints in the chatterbox (CB) of someone working hard to implement a suggestion - Corion's WSYIWYG editor project comes to mind. When some improvement project is completed (rather than in-process), there is that link to site news buried in the site information nodelet. But that is about it for feedback.

The worst part of this is that it gives the appearance that no one cares. That is really bad, because (a) people who want to help get discouraged by the lack of response (b) it is unfair to the people who do care, of which, I think there are many. It is more than obvious to me (who spends *a lot* of time observing the CB and is utterly fascinated by how PM functions as a community) that PM survives because of a dedicated core of very hard working volunteers. For both (a) and (b) to be true something must be disconnected that shouldn't be.

It is also bad because there are probably a lot of people that would be glad to help, if only they knew what help is needed. Many would also be less frustrated with things they don't like, if only they could see the list of higher priority things that still aren't done because of lack of resources (human/money/other). Some might even be willing to volunteer for the cabal or at least to take on small tasks under the supervision of one of the cabal groups, if only they knew.

Now, perhaps things look different from the "inside" (of the cabal). I have heard of wikis and other organizational tools for the cabal, so there might be a lot that an outside-of-the-cabal monk is missing. But I also sense (via CB and scanning of posts) that there is some frustration among some monks that are part of the cabal as well.

So now I'm wondering:

• Is there a PM "wish list" posted anywhere?
• If not, what would that wish list be and should there be one?
• What process does Perl Monks have for identifying, tracking, prioritizing, and publicizing suggestions?
• Is there a way we could use technology to help with the tracking and prioritizing of suggestions? If so, what would be needed to make this happen?
• How, specifically, can the rest of us help us handle the site improvement process better?

And finally, how can I (and others) take the best ideas from this discussion and help them move from words to action?

Thanks in advance, beth