I think another important thing to remember, in addition to the above posts, is that in order to gain xp by posting code is that you have to post amazing code. Many people vote after a large amount of disscussion has happened, so for your code to get upvoted it has to shine above the rest. Which is not always any easy thing to do.

If you really want to only get xp for code you post, then just post questions or code examples to SoPW. Also, post to Code Catacombs, Craft and Cool Uses For Perl.

You are not the first monk who has felt this way, see WebHick and monkeygirl for an example.

Rather than feeling proud or not proud of reaching level 5, just have fun.

--xPhase