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PerlMonks Boosters' Club

by nysus (Parson)
on Jul 02, 2001 at 23:48 UTC ( [id://93299]=monkdiscuss: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

Dear Monks,

As I've stated shamelessly before, I'm a huge fan of the PerlMonks community. Not only for the incredible amount of wisdom a Perl programmer can obtain from this resource but also for the great, well, community that can be had here. I believe we have something truly special on our hands and we're all lucky to have it. And I think we all want it to stick around for a long time to come, right? Right!

So I think it is nigh time, brothers and sisters, to formalize a way to sustain this place we (mostly you, the most esteemed) have built together. We must vow to fight to keep this holy realm safe by fulfilling its destiny to prosper and grow. And so what we need is a method to solidify our path---yes, it is time to convene the PerlMonks Boosters' Club.

Let it be decreed that the purpose of the Boosters' Club shall be:

  • To choose a volunteer President of long and good standing in the PerlMonks community who will act to promote the goals of the Boosters' Club and the community as a whole.
  • To select a voluntary body of Representatives who will work with the President to ensure the Boosters' Club carries out its obligations as outlined below.
  • To display and encourage goodwill to all members of the PerlMonks community, from the lowliest of Initiates, to the highest of the highest Saints---yes, Anonymous Monks, too.
  • To actively promote the financial well-being of this site by: 1) Frequently reminding members of the existence and whereabouts of the Offering Plate, the need for contributions, and of the fine wares available at the PerlMonks store. 2) Singing the praises of the PerlMonks community (read good example) both domestically and on distant, fertile Perl grounds (if you write a Perl book, be sure to mention PerlMonks in your Acknowlegements, for instance).
  • Reach out to developers and leaders within the Perl programming universe to encourage their guest appearances in our Community (e.g. wouldn't it be kick ass if Larry Wall popped in on a regular basis?)
  • Whatever else you can think of; I think you get the point by now. :-)

So, my fellow monks, there is my proposal naked for all to see and debate. Kindly take this call for solidarity into consideration. I think we, and the Perl Programming Language upon which this site is built, could stand a lot to gain.

Sincerely,

$PM = "Perl Monk's";
$MCF = "Most Clueless Friar Abbot Bishop";
$nysus = $PM . $MCF;
Click here if you love Perl Monks

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: PerlMonks Boosters' Club
by merlyn (Sage) on Jul 03, 2001 at 06:12 UTC
    I'm a big champion of not creating structures needlessly. I also have experience at that, having created The Perl Institute a bit ahead of its time, and for perhaps the wrong reasons.

    So, given my experience with TPI, can we please first agree what problems exist that this new structure will solve? I don't see anything of your list not already happening.

    -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

      I think "structure" is much too strong of a word for what I'm trying to get across. When I think of a "Boosters' Club", I think of a merry band of professionals, all volunteer, who pledge to root for the home team/community.

      It looks like the irony in my post didn't work. :-) It was supposed to be a humuorous attempt to inspire a partriotic call to action. I guess I should have run it through an editor first. Anyway, I'm only half serious when I talk about a "President" and "Representatives". I didn't mean to conjure up ideas of "institution" and "bureaucracy". When I think of a Boosters' Club, I think of Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble going to the Buffalo meeting every Wednesday (from what I've seen of your code examples, I know you can relate to this :-)). They have elections, a president, etc. but the main purpose of the club is just comradery and fun and help kick off the community anti-litterbug campaign.

      You asked if we could agree on what problems exist. Well, I can only talk about the the "problem" from my own perspective. The problem is that I have an urge to help PM grow and prosper. I feel this compelling obligation because I probably would have grown bored and stopped studying Perl a long time ago without some kind of connection to others in the programming world. PerlMonks has given me that connection and I greatly appreciate it. I'm just guessing that many others feel the same way and might want to have some fun showing their appreciation and find a way to pay PM back, that's all.

      $PM = "Perl Monk's";
      $MCF = "Most Clueless Friar Abbot Bishop";
      $nysus = $PM . $MCF;
      Click here if you love Perl Monks

Re: PerlMonks Boosters' Club
by agent00013 (Pilgrim) on Jul 03, 2001 at 18:12 UTC
    Sounds good, nysus. I agree with merlyn that making it too strict and formal without any cause would be a bad idea, but if a loose structure could be put together for the entertainment, enjoyment, improvement, and overall benefit of the community, it should be done. We could stage informal debates about the issues of the community, have ridiculous campaigns (Don't vote for whoever, he likes to use people; to his benefit). Yada yada. It's a good idea though, is there any way we can actually implement some of these things in the site?
      Well, maybe a good place to begin is to start a "Boosters' Club" node. "Boosters' Club", of course, is just a suggestion. Personally, I think it's kind of funny because most open-source folk are usually anti-booster anything, me included.

      Anyway, on this node could go some kind of pledge, complete with a Preamble and flowery language to capture the PerlMonks philosophy. It might list the duties and responsibilities that the pledging member promises to uphold and carryout. To join, the member simply clicks a button and his/her name gets added to the roll call for all to see.

      I like your ideas to have little funny campaigns sponsored by this yet-to-be-named volunteer organization. That's the kind of thing I had in mind. Above all else, it's got to be fun. In fact, that should be the whole reason for its existence---because people enjoy doing it. I think it would be fun to set little achievable goals together that everyone could work on like, for instance, having an e-mail campaign to bring Larry Wall to PM. Stuff like that would add a new, exciting dimension to PM. I think there are a limitless number of possibilities. Maybe have a quarterly pledge drive like on PBS to help ensure PM meets its contribution quota. Again, these are all just ideas I'm tossing out as examples. I'm not saying we start working on these specific things.

      Please, if anyone else likes this kernel of an idea, please speak up. I would like to explore this further.

      $PM = "Perl Monk's";
      $MCF = "Most Clueless Friar Abbot Bishop";
      $nysus = $PM . $MCF;
      Click here if you love Perl Monks

        a node... good idea =)

        We, the people of the Perl Monks community, hereby declare are intent to...

        Ok, that's as far as I can go. I'd be willing to help out writing the preamble. I'll even make sure to write it in a program with spell checking capabilities so I don't make any gufy misteaks.

        Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Larry Wall a busy man? It'd be sweet if we could get him to write up and respond to just one node. It'll take a lot of people though to pull him to this site. *glances at the current poll* we've only got about 1000 votes on the site's poll, so that's about all the votes we can count on maximum if we get any sort of petition going.

        I pledge allegiance to the Perl Monks... is this the sort of pledge you were referring to, nysus, or do you mean something more along the lines of "I will not -- without giving reasons, I will not flame, troll, bate, or attempt to entrap other monks in a node of death, ..."?

        If we do the "Perl Monks needs money" drive, people usually like some sort of reward for contributing. For donating to PBS, people get coffee mugs. Cheesy stuff like that. PM can't afford to give out any real prizes, but are there non-monetary "rewards" that can be given?

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