Well, putting your second point into practice returns a couple of relevant discussions in short order. For example:

• Own name in the Other Users box describes the refresh time, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

While I'm still coming up to speed on the internals of the Everything engine, I suspect there's a cron job that periodically regenerates the content of the Other User's list. If this is true, reducing the refresh rate would be a bad idea because it would impact every other process on the host server, including the node serving requests. I can live with three minutes.

• If you really want up-to-date information, you can roll your own client, as noted in XML available for chatterbox and other users. I suspect, however, it's very possible you'd really annoy someone if you set your refresh rate too fine. For example, if you requested updates every few seconds, you'd also impact the ability of the rest of us to participate. Given this, you might consider this very carefully.

  There are several examples of various PerlMonk clients in the Code Catacombs. Playing with a few would certainly be good training, however, I would think hard about the effect on the rest of the Monastery membership before putting something into production.

Your second point is well-taken and has been discussed many, many times in various threads. I'll leave researching the details as an exercise. :-)

It is a comment well worth repeating from time to time, however, the people that really need to hear it (the new visitors and initiates) rarely seem to make the effort to learn what works in our halls before posting. Indeed, most of us have made serious faux pas in our first posts. It's an unfortunate reality of online support communities. We can certainly raise awareness and strive to improve the visibility of answers to commonly-asked questions. However, there's always going to be some duplication of effort. Sadly.

Here's a challenge for you: Look for questions that are asked frequently and then write up tutorials outlining the general approach, listing documentation sources with links, and ofering a list of the best threads discussing the topic. (I have one of these in progress and hope to post it soon.) This would help solidify your knowledge of the subject, expand the Tutorials, and help link good threads together.

Also, there is one minor advantage to revisiting previous discussions. Since Perl and CPAN continually evolve, we can keep our standard knowledge up-to-date and refine our understanding of that knowledge.

--f

Update: Fixed various typos. My typing sucks. :-}

Nodelets have a field that specifies an update interval, in seconds. This does exactly what you'd expect, it reduces server load where possible.

Not all nodelets use this (as some show individual items that can't be cached lest users see information meant for others, while other nodelets are static and don't need to be refreshed), but Other Users does. I believe the refresh rate is 180 seconds, and there's a window of activity in which a user must have made a request or the username will not be displayed.

It's possible to hit the refresh at just the wrong time so you don't show up for a while. It was a concession the Chatterbox designers were willing to make.

footpad Thanks for all your advice and help!! I think i'll try to take you up on your challenge that you stated... but I'm really not that great of a hardcore Perl programmer, and would feel awkward to write tutorials when I am still a beginner at Perl!! :) It's like the 'blind leading the blind' and that's the sort of thing that more advanced users such as yourself scoff at ^_^. So I would take you up on your well accepted challenge, but I don't think I am qualified... *sigh*. Thanks anyway!

bladx ~ ¡muchas veces tengo preguntas!

I think i'll try to take you up on your challenge that you stated...

Good, for only by challenging yourself will you stretch your knowledge and improve your skills. You cannot learn if you do not try.

but I'm really not that great of a hardcore Perl programmer, and would feel awkward to write tutorials when I am still a beginner at Perl!! :)

I think if you scratch the surface of many of the "more experienced" monks, I believe you'll find many who feel their Perl skills could be bettered. That's why they hang out: to learn, to help where possible, and to find new ways of doing things.

Also, I have found that the best way to learn something is to try to teach it to others. This is especially true when you're teaching in a classroom setting, for your students will ask questions not in the courseware. Granted, the Monastery is not a traditional classroom, you will get feedback to your efforts. That's what makes the place such a great proving ground. If you are willing to put your code to the test, your Monasterial collegues will provide honest feedback and point out alternate ways of doing things.

If you're not up to doing a tutorial, then try creating demonstration code based on answers you see in those threads you mentioned, the ones that describe a topic in detail. Create a working example of the solution. It doesn't need to be complex; it only needs to be enough to illustrate the point you have in mind. (Be sure that you attribute appropriately when you post your results, if only out of courtesy.)

If you're not sure what the point is, then experiment with the code that's offered and see what you can learn.

As the old joke cliche goes: "Wisdom comes from experience. Experience comes from making mistakes and from taking chances."

Again, no risk...no reward.

...that's the sort of thing that more advanced users such as yourself scoff at.

While I can't speak for everyone, I rarely scoff. Sure, I'll moderate trolls, provide as constructive feedback as I can muster, and frequently challenge you to go another step. However, it's done in an attempt to help you find your next step on the path to enlightenment. Constructive feedback is a good thing, but it's up to you to discover how, or even if, it helps.

If I came across otherwise, I apologize.

I know many of the other, more experienced, members of our community participate provide their feedback with the same or similar ideas in mind. Frankly, it's one of the reasons I stick around.

--f

I think a (gentle) reminder to search is fine. Something involving physical punishment for repeat offenders. But let's remember that the first time into a site, the way to find things is not always obvious. And if the first time someone posts a question they're told to rtf faq they'll be offput.

I am merely making an observation, not a criticism, as I have gotten great value out of my short time lurking here.

If the same posts start to bother, just ignore them, start looking by the subject, unless someone blantly mis-titles a node, you can tell if it is something that would interest you. The nicest part of reading these redundant questions is the cool colection of links that can be spun off of them, kinda like a pm webring.