Initiate Observations

Fellow PerlMonks,

I've only been a registered PerlMonk for 3 short days. I'm more that pleasantly surprised about the friendliness of the other monks, and I'm even more surprised at how much information is available. I look forward to discovering more about Perl and its advocates.

I do have a question about the experience system. In the 3 days that I've been here, I've managed to gain 3 levels, almost 4. The experience points I did receive were obviously not awarded because of my Perl knowledge, since I know next to nothing yet (I've only been programming Perl for about 14 days). They were awarded because of my participation in the community, and because of acceptance by other monks, shown by the votes I've received (to which I must thank everyone for. I'm humbled.).

So here's my question to you, my mentors: Can one become a saint by being a true advocate and supporter of a language, even if his/her skills are still very much in development?

Phemur

Comment on Initiate Observations

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Re: Initiate Observations by TStanley (Canon) on May 23, 2002 at 22:25 UTC
Can one become a saint by being a true advocate and supporter of a language, even if his/her skills are still very much in development? The answer is yes. I have been hanging around here for almost two years now, and there are others who are at a lower rank than me, yet can code rings around me. As our fearless leader puts it, "1000000 XP and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee". Part of the reason I made saint, is that I participate regularly on this site, by logging in and voting. If you are interested in other ways of getting more involved with Perl, locate a Perl Mongers group in your area. You can also check out the official Perl website as well. TStanley -------- Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups -- Anonymous	[reply]
Re: Initiate Observations by graff (Chancellor) on May 24, 2002 at 03:29 UTC
My own theory is that the repution points accrued by postings here are not so much a reflection of one's programming skill and/or knowledge in Perl (though this certainly counts for some cred), but are in larger part a reflection of one's ability to communicate effectively with other programmers, no matter whether asking questions or giving answers. I hope its true for most of the friars (like me) and higher-ups that our "skills are still very much in development". Being a "true advocate and supporter" probably earns more points than being an antagonist, in general, but I could easily vote for someone who said something like "here's an idea, which is really useful because..., and I can make it really fast/intuitive/maintainable/robust in language X, but it really sucks if I try it this way in Perl..." -- provided that the necessary details are concisely given to make the point (ideally with a dispassionate tone). If such a complaint is justified, everyone gains by seeing a limitation of the language clearly demonstrated (and word gets around to the creators about something that probably needs fixing) -- everyone wins; if the "antagonist" is just using the worst of various approaches, the replies that get the most points will be the ones that simply show better ways to do it in Perl, and everyone wins again. Thanks for posting some very well-stated nodes.	[reply]
Re: Initiate Observations by Juerd (Abbot) on May 23, 2002 at 22:46 UTC
I do have a question about the experience system. In the 3 days that I've been here, I've managed to gain 3 levels, almost 4. Have a look at my home node: you'll be saint in three months ;) Can one become a saint by being a true advocate and supporter of a language, even if his/her skills are still very much in development? Only your nodes count. If they are valuable to this site and/or the Perl community, they will get a higher reputation, and you will get XP for that. You don't need much Perl skills to help others, and there's no need for any Perl-specific skills if you're just discussing program design, which is more or less the same for different languages. Anyhow, welcome and keep up the good nodes! - Yes, I reinvent wheels. - Spam: Visit eurotraQ.	[reply]
Re: Initiate Observations by dsheroh (Monsignor) on May 23, 2002 at 22:49 UTC
Welcome, Brother! Can one become a saint by being a true advocate and supporter of a language, even if his/her skills are still very much in development? As is occasionally noted, you don't even have to do that to gain Sainthood. Since XP can be gained by voting as well as by contributing nodes, you could eventually become a Saint merely by logging in each day and using all your votes.	[reply]
Re: Initiate Observations by jepri (Parson) on May 24, 2002 at 01:33 UTC
Yes. ____________________ Jeremy I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.	[reply]
Re: Initiate Observations by theorbtwo (Prior) on May 26, 2002 at 17:27 UTC
Yes, quite easily. Specificly, you can become a saint by being a nice person. For example, whenever I see somebody give a nice wrapup of what the solution they used in their seeking, and thank the approprate pepole, I ++ it. When I see a well-stated question, I ++ it. When I see a post that creates a good discussion, I ++ it. My voting behavor has more to do with discussion skills then with perl skills. We are using here a powerful strategy of synthesis: wishful thinking. -- The Wizard Book	[reply]


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