Re: How to ask a question in the Perl community, and where to ask it

[InfiniteSilence]

Answers:

• do you like Perl ?Define like (if you mean use all the time, think is really neat, use it to try out new things, constantly look for the Perl version of pretty much everything, etc., then 'yes' is the answer).
• do you like the Perl community ?I don't know how anyone can like a community. I mean, I'm an American, and there are other Americans who I don't like and I think are major A-holes. We're all Americans though, so I respect them.
• did you ever had any problems with harsh answers or bans on IRC ?Who in the heck hasn't?
• do you think that the Perl community needs some reorganization ?No. I think the Haskell community needs to be reorganized and the Java community and the Vb.Net community though.
• do you feel like irc.perl.org is controlled by a gang ?I don't use IRC and wouldn't know. If it was though I would stop using it and then it would probably stop being an issue I would think.
• do you feel that #perl on Freenode is too strict ?Beats me.
• do you feel like ops on #perl on Freenode or on some channels in irc.perl.org are being idiotic ?Ditto to last response.
• what would you change in the Perl community?I would ban whining.

You might be wondering why I bothered to make this post. I did it to make a (small) point. I've tried to use IRC for Perl on several occasions, each time I didn't much like the interaction. So I 'loaded up the truck and-a-moved to PerlMonks'. To hell with IRC trolls, mean people, and anybody bad. I've had almost no problem getting my questions answered here over the years except those that I should have been researching on my own.

In ancient Greece there were all kinds of different groups of thinkers and philosophers, like the cynics. The historical tradition of cynicism is well known and is apparently favored in certain intellectual circles. The Perl community is not alone in this. I remember reading posts in an Oracle forum which were basically mean spirited and elitist.

Regarding the Lester post, I think the problem overall has to do with computing and social interaction itself. People did not evolve to talk to eachother via strange boxes sitting on their lap or on desktops. This is an entirely recent human invention and, as such, people appear to be devolving behaviorally in certain instances where they do not recognize that they are actually talking to real, living people on the other end of the wire. Think about it -- if we interacted via small robot dogs that would cower whenever we got angry our behavior would be different I think.