I dislike this idea. Mostly, as other people have said, because it creates more ground to cover -- and in the end, I don't think the new site would be frequented by experts.
As for the site interface, well that's life. I don't mind it at all. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's fine. And as a side note, all of the Perl coding I've done so far (albeit I've only been working with it for a few days) has been from the command line. If somebody comes along who absolutely
cannot use a site that's not 100% AJAX powered and flashy, they probably aren't going to like coding in
any language.
Still, I am not going to deny that you make one strong point - the environment. As a newbie to Perl, I feel out of place asking, even in the chatter box, something quick while looking at all the advanced stuff going on.
What I would suggest is adding a section for beginners, where simple questions could be asked. It would probably also help to emphasize
these tutorials at the top of that section or whatnot. Because even if newbie questions
are completely welcome, it doesn't
feel like they are to somebody just getting started with Perl and PM.