"You know what I'm talking about."

Sorry, I don't. Having spent some time recently in other communities my personal experience is that the perl community is far more friendly than any other I've had cause to communicate with. Could you give some examples, or a link to the LW quote you mention which elaborates or quantifies this somehow? What are your suspicions? What do you consider to be "old timers"? When do you think this happend?

Update: typo, sorry not enough coffee yet.