"...should I be shocked that someone used this place as a helpdesk for a totally unrelated subject?

I'm not shocked at all. There are a lot of helpful, knowledgeable people here.

We enforce our own standards of what questions are appropriate and what are not. Monks are a pretty disciplined bunch and the content of the monastery reflects that. I think it's unlikely we are going to see the CB turn into the newbie help desk.

The person eventually got their problem solved, which is cool. It was, in fact, a Perl problem.

Not all subjects are as OT as they may appear!

I think the whole point of this rant is: "If you are doing anything that is beyond your level of understanding, you should at least know where to go for the appropriate help."

My counter-point would be, "If they're in the wrong place, at least point them in a productive direction"

Dave