I don't think any Monks should get their robes in a twist over this. The Perl elders have reasoned this through and sanctioned it. This merger makes a lot of sense to me and although I don't have a lot of money to contribute, I would surely give more when it becomes tax deductable to do so. My local PBS station has pissed me off anyways so YAS Perl Monks get next year's contribution for sure. I hereby pledge $250 to YAS Perl Monks. BTW I contributed to the Monks plate recently, just not that much.

I think so long as vroom is willing to stay on (which he said he would) and the Monks keep the XP system (which some Monger's I've talked with personally seem to disdain for whatever reason) the Perl Monks "culture" should remain intact. This is a very useful site to me and the format of the site is helping me learn Perl better.

The Perl Monger's and O'Reilly's sites are showpieces for Perl to sell Perl usage (ones that you can show your management and not get them hyper you're gonna be helping/playing in the Monastery at work all day). As a specialized Perl SIG, this site indoctrinates neophytes and shares information in a fun way, at least for me so far. I've read several of the worst nodes (including Randal's worst rant, which is fairly tame) and those don't scare me either! (Update:  I just found a thread that bothered me greatly, but thanks to negative votes the Monks showed their displeasure for another's intolerance. Since negative votes are the strongest censure mechanism available to us, I guess the offending Monk was on notice, but obviously not humbled. There are people with feelings behind these Monk handles. I hope all of us can keep that in mind!) USENET groups serve another group altogether. Dominus has spent a lot of his efforts helping those patrons. I think all these expressions of helpfulness, whatever form, forum, or format are helping real people learn to solve real problems in an arena they are comfortable participating in.

I hope all the sites and user groups don't change their unique missions. YAS should never dictate (I don't believe they will), only facilitate working relationships and tax deductability. After attending my first YAPC in Montréal, I think they do a GREAT job, especially if Kevin Lenzo is representative of the YAS work ethic and mindset!

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