Gentlemen, perhaps a few of you ought to know some of the things that I have been told ... quite unsolicited ... by professionals in the field:   “you could own PerlMonks, you know, and probably Tim Vroom, for defamation of character and public slander.”   (I even had a London Barrister contact me, again, unsolicited, and specifically offer to track down BrowserUK all the way across The Pond and to haul him in front of Her Majesty’s Court on my behalf.)   I have declined these offers.   So far.   (I don’t like lawyers.)

Enough.   Is enough.   If you don’t like someone, don’t like what s/he posts, then there is a very simple and courteous solution:   ignore that person.   Politely.   Professionally.

PerlMonks.org has a reputation for being a hostile place.   This is not a good reflection on the Perl language, nor the Perl professional community, nor this site.   It stands against everything that this site was long-ago created to do.   It is also an extremely negative reference for anyone who indulges in it, whether or not they hide behind the frock of Anonymous Monk.   It has no place here, nor anywhere.

We all want PerlMonks to be “the go-to site for Perl questions on the Internet.”   We therefore also want anyone to feel welcome to post their question, without even considering any risk of public humiliation, let alone castigation.   “This sort of thing” runs directly counter to that mission.

I therefore ask you all ... politely, but directly ... to stop, immediately..   To, “cease and desist.”   All of you are entirely out-of-line, and I should not have to say that.