Hello, Rolf.

I agree that tolerance for the sort of thing that is equivalent to being jostled on a crowded street is a necessity in some places we choose to go. I've said as much in my posts here.

I respectfully disagree that the mistreated community members here are necessarily able to find a solution without some input outside what has become a sort of resonant chamber, amplifying the louder voices (on any side of an argument) and droning out the reasonable.

From my communications with various active PerlMonks, I know that not everyone here shares your view. But, it is hard from someone who'd rather just get on with things to wade into disputes like this one, and the result is generally that moderate voices aren't a material part of the debate. The shouting down of these people is a heckler's veto, that is, they can cut off debate by harshness rather than deal with the substance. This is true of both sides of a polarizing issue such as this one. It there is any merit to the content from either viewpoint, and I believe there is merit to both, the light is lost in the heat, and nothing endemic here offers a way to change this, hence my appearance.

I feel forced to reiterate that my concern is not the correctness of any argument, nor the famous culture of PerlMonks but the need for civility in the Perl community in general. It is disingenuous to say that what PerlMonks does isn't a reflection on the Perl community (not accusing you of this, just making the point), whether it should or not. "Should" doesn't decide what is, unfortunately.

To the extent I have no standing here, it is at once a weakness and a strength. It is a weakness because I have no special reputation here, it is a strength because I have no axe to grind. I am not here about history but the present. I don't want to remake PerlMonks in some notional image, I want to have PerlMonks reflect, it its unique way, what it means to be "an affiliate of TPF" and a very important and high profile part of the Perl community.

One more note, I hope that it is clear I am not a lawyer. I am the Community Advocate for TPF, and yes, advocate can mean "lawyer", but that is not the sense here.

advocate
noun |ˈadvəkit|

a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy: he was an untiring advocate of economic reform.
• a person who pleads on someone else's behalf: care managers can become advocates for their clients.
• a pleader in a court of law; a lawyer: Marshall was a skilled advocate but a mediocre judge.

I am an advocate in the first and second senses of that definition but not the third. My rôle with the TPF is to provide a conduit, bi-directionally, between TPF and the greater Perl community. I am also tasked with finding ways to foster health and growth in the community. It is my belief, reflected in the work I am doing, that the community consists of many smaller, overlapping affinity groups. PerlMonks is one of the most visible, and most important. I believe that for the community to be healthy, each group must be able to have manifest the Perl community in its own way. An analogy might be that The Perl Community is the genotype but PerlMonks is the phenotype.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, and pleasant tone. And thank you for the invitation to join you. I appreciate it.