As to what an "expert" question is versus a "newbie" question?

I'd define "newbie" question as relating to something that is part of the core Perl language, or a popular library set. The area is well travelled by many, and understood, at least superficially, by most. Still, there are occasions where a "newbie" has wandered off this golden path and into some giant ball of snakes, which might be a bug, an unsual application of a feature, or something of that nature. Even "experts" might be a little surprised by the answer.

An "expert" question can be one relating to an obscure module, something really "core", or an advanced programming concept that most don't necessarily even consider workable. While everyone who uses Perl is likely to use a regex, an array, and a hash at least once, not everyone is going to write their own DBD driver, or neural network engine. Still, there are opportunities for a "newbie", someone without any particular prejudice against using certain techniques, may actually help the "expert" by providing fresh insight, or actually doing the job of RTFM.

It is the "intermediate" people that know the rules and try and stick to them while they learn the ropes. The "newbie" has no concept of the rules, and so, has no idea how to adhere to them. The "expert", likewise, knows exactly what the rules are, and can use that to their advantage. This is yet another similarity between the "expert" and the "newbie".

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