In trying to understand and learn this community's ideals, as well as the types of folks that hang out, I have been following Best Nodes and Worst nodes for the last several days. It's been interesting to see the posts that get voted down and those that get voted up.

However, I am curious why certain perl-related nodes that seem reasonable to me (again, a simple novice) get hammered while certain nodes that could be regarded as "off-topic" get voted highly.

I have gone through Super Search in an attempt to learn some general guidelines and there are a few. However, I must confess that I am still confused.

I would have continued watching quietly, save for a very lively set of exchanges on Chatterbox today. It seems that a number of novices, acolytes, and (well) newer members of the community have similar questions.

So, would the monks, abbots, and other high-level members be willing to share a general sense of the contributions they find valuable and consequently vote up? Also, it would be instructive to learn the criteria you use to vote down.

Please understand that I seek wisdom, not heat. I am not trying to start a fight and (as someone offered me in another thread), there's a bucket of water right *there* in case I've inadvertantly struck sparks with this question.