This is an age-old question that many a monk has brought up before.
I, for one, have asked myself this many times until someone in the CB pointed out to me that it wasn't what I knew but instead what little I knew that I shared.
...Do you *actually* think I know the same amount of Perl as some of the other monks below or of the same level as me? Definitely not.
All I do around here is try to contribute as much as possible by never logging out and by contributing answers to the questions I know.
To anyone doubting theirselves, just think that as long as you learn stuff here try to contribute intelligent and well thoughtout answers, than you are just as valuable here as anyone else.
BTW: good post, azatoth
UPDATE:Fixed load 'o spelling errors.
Tiptoeing up to a Perl hacker.
Dave AKA damian
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I'll second this. Being a monk, of the Perlish or any other persuasion, is about following a path. It's not what you say, it's not even what you currently know, it's what you're honestly striving towards. XP and Best Nodes are nice positive rewards, but they shouldn't be the point.
Not that postings etc. are irrelevant. But it's hard to contribute much, at least for me, for two reasons:
-
When I read someone's question that I can answer, there's usually 5 other people who've posted replies, some of which are better answers than whatever I had in mind.
- Whenever I get stumped to the point where I begin to compose a SOPW, I stop, think, search, think some more, and wind up figuring it out myself. Sometimes, just the act of organizing my thoughts for someone else to read makes the solution appear.
So I keep reading and learning, and contribute when I can.
-- Frag.
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Amen. It's what I try to impress on my son all the time: it's not how well you do it, it's how hard you try.
In a learning situation such as this, which tries to imitate the round-table discussion group style of brainstorming, it's the throwing around of ideas (hopefully, without penalty even if you do something very basic or stupid) that makes Perlmonks a place where you can actually learn. It adds to my productivity instead of sapping it, as most 'net based stuff seems to do these days.
I know that I am capable of making a complete ass out of myself, to a certain degree it can't be helped :) But I also know that as long as I interact, write responses, get corrected and LEARN, I've done myself and probably others some good.
Now the bad news is that Size Kills All; the universe doesn't scale. This type of interaction works great with small groups of people (like, strangely enough, in kindergarden and 1st grade classes), but becomes much less effective as the size of the group grows. Eventually, the signal to noise ration shifts into the noise area and, it breaks. Take the way IRC used to be, Usenet and Everything for example.
So, Share and Enjoy while you can. Maybe, if we are lucky, Perlmonks won't fall pray to that, but if it doesn't, it will be the first one I've seen.
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