Having watched the NodeReaper for a few months now, and often dutifully considering nodes, I still wonder what purpose the Reaper really serves. The nodes don't go away (although it appears now that editors can make some of the really bad parts of it go away). Doesn't this all just draw more attention to it? I prefer to see the Reaper used to suggest edits, since poor titling and formatting make nodes less valuable.

I think it's too bad if PerlMonks has a reputation that makes it not the ideal first choice for a place to refer newbies. I certainly find this website more inviting than wading through newsgroups and less invasive than mailing lists. It's certainly the first place I turn whenever I get the "ask ichimunki, he's a Perl guru" questions from coworkers (I fooled them into thinking this by posting my BrainBench Perl certificate). And right after I tell them to upgrade to a Perl version higher than 4 I tell them the answer on found here.