Personally, I wouldn't like having such a section. I think one of the things that makes PM a nice site is the tight focus on Perl (OK, maybe CGI and SQL too ;-). The disaster sent ripples far and wide, and I don't begrudge anyone stating their opinion or their thoughts and feelings, but I'm glad that the focus has returned to "the business".
I also agree with idnopheq: the potential for abuse is too high for my taste.
my ($cent[0], $cent[1]);
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[d/l] |
Well, I agree in principle with your idea ( ++ ). I had a similar one not long ago. My fear is that we become /. or its ilk. I would like to see a clear policy on OT postings, regardless of maintaining the status quo or adding a 'Community' section - or even directing folks off-site somewhere.
Also, we may open the Monastery up to intense flammage and trolls. Vigilance on the Nodes to consider would have to increase. The stress on the Editors may have to be delegated.
But, I dunno ... maybe I'm just paranoid ... and overdosing on news and opinion.
HTH
--
idnopheq
Apply yourself to new problems without preparation, develop confidence in your ability to to meet situations as they arrise.
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I've noticed that lack of non-work-related chatter affects the "binding" of this community. In another successful place I belonged to (pre-Internet, in fact!) everyone was very close, knowing all about their families, pets, details of lives, etc. Here most of y'all are just handles.
Perhaps the CB takes some of the load for that, but it's nowhere near what I've seen elsewhere.
—John | [reply] |
I agree. As I've argued elsewhere, the best technical communities are in fact technical communities. My reservation about having a "community" page would be that it might ghettoise non-technical stuff. It seems to me, from the eminence of a whole six weeks involvement with the monastery, that personal / community stuff does filter through a lot of the site in a good way. I think the way to make that side of things work better would be to reach and express a consensus that we like that, and then we would all feel we had maximum freedom to take an interest in non-technical matters (always remembering, of course, that it IS a technical forum). Please take this as a voice in support of that consensus.
Another thought - perhaps we might all be a bit more forthcoming, and less cool and allusive, on our home nodes.
§ George Sherston
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My first thoughts along those lines were after a week or so, after being exposed to the same people's postings for several days. Now I've been here 4 months, have reached Sainthood, and still don't know anybody.
In the "Pub", on the other hand, although I've not been active for a few years and the place isn't quite the community it once was, I know all about pet kittens and divorce and budding romances and what's going on in various people's lives. We've visited each other whenever someone is in the area of someone else. We post trip reports for the group to share. We've hosted COOKSTOCK '94, a Transcontenental Pot Luck Dinner. In short, I've made dear friends, and at the same time came of age as a programmer and writer. Discussions there were likened to grad school seminars anywhere else. We shared both the wisdom of the ages and the wimsey of the moment. Looking back, it's like the neighborhood I grew up in.
It was there, and closely related places, that made me realize that the substrate of "communication" can lead to "community" and "culture".
Perhaps we could have something like that here, since we already have the people and a polite countryclub-like situation going. Shall we lose some of the formality and more importantly, open up about our personal lives? I don't know if that's what everyone wants or could handle.
Maybe we need an "auxilary" after-hours club that invites all the same people from the regular stuffy-old country club, rather than changing the dress code or opening up a new room in the countryclub.
—John
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I almost posted this exact idea last night.... (but realized that I already had several unimplemented ideas
sitting in the queue)
We have Discussions ('Perl Monks' website related postings) and Meditations ('Perl' related). A Community ('Monks' related) section seems like a natural fit.
I'd be happy to work on adding this feature to the site, though the current group-development process hasn't really
worked itself out yet. (although progress is being made.)
-Blake
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