Thank you for posting something that crystalizes a point I've been trying to make for many posts now. We all have something in common...we want to learn Perl. Let's focus on that, instead of the petty little differences.

As the parent of a 2-1/2 year old, I understand about tying shoes. And Baby Perl, if only obliquely. However, I don't upbraid my daughter when she pokes about, I don't scream at her when she's kneed me in the unmentionables *again*. It hurts, oh yeah. I want to scream at her. Oh, *yeah*. But, I don't. Why? Because she's going through a learning curve, too. I refuse to subject her to the same training I had.

My point is, you are very correct. We have a goal and a mission. Let's get the job done and foster a spirit of cooperation and acceptance unseen in any other community. Let's stop playing games with each other and start teaching how to write good ones, or secure ones, or whatever.

To paraphrase a certain election slogan, "It's the code, stupid."

--f

• You don't tug on Superman's cape.
• You don't spit into the wind.
• You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger,
• And you don't ask a Scotsman what's under his kilt.

I may have missed a couple, but you get the general idea.

And Remember, FOAD stands for Feed Our Adorable Dolphins.

Thank you for your time. We now return you to your regularly scheduled perl nodes.

And you never, ever, ever upset The Bat.

In everyday 'real'(not on-line) life people get angry with others, they find fault with others, they let personality and identity stop them from learning from others. Most people don't show these feelings, because they are not anonymous, because others can put a face and name to others comments and negative behaviours.

The internet changes the way most people behave. Whether it be a small amount, or a large amount, we are all changed by the internet. It is because we are anonymous while on-line, and no matter what we do on-line, once we are off-line, no-one can identify us by our comments. In forums where more anonynimity is allowed more of this behavour is seen. Look at Slashdot and the AC behaviour. With perlmonks we have the ability to ++ and --. We can also join up with a different nick, and become a whole new person, we are not held as tightly to our actions as we are in everyday life.

We can't stop this behaviour unless we take away they ability to be anonymous, and that is not an option. Even if we did, people would find ways around any fixes we could make.

I don't mean to make this sound hopeless, it's not. We have one of the best signal to noise ration I've seen on-line. Most members respect everyone else here, and even when things do get somewhat ugly, they tend to get worked out quickly. I hope that things stay this way, and really think they will.

I think that the best thing that we can do is just pay attention to the positive and thought provoking questions and comments, and ignore the negative ones. The more responses and -- or ++'s a node gets, the more visable it is. If we were just to ignore the node, then it would just fall by the wayside.

Remember, just pay attention to the good things, have fun with it, and try not to let the negative bring you down.

--xPhase

    It is because we are anonymous while on-line.

Just an aside.  It is also because others are anonymous to us on-line.  We seem to lack any perspective on them.  Its similar to the importance we give (at least emotionally) to downvotes compared to critical comments where we might even say "Oh yeah, I was wrong" (though not often, of course).  Anonymous downvotes and pseudononymous others are not the same thing, but it all seems related.

  p