>>>>> "NA" == Nathan Arthur <nart...@rainskit.com> writes:
NA> First, some background - I'm a long-time programmer, primarily in NA> java, secondarily in PHP and shell script. I have started working NA> with a new team who uses perl, so I've had to learn it - from them, NA> from books/tutorials, from this list, and by just writing it. I spent NA> a bunch of time with online tutorials and books before really getting NA> started, so most of my interest in this list is about "real-life NA> examples of perl" rather than "learning to program". if you spent any time with the typical perl tutorial on the net, you wasted it. maybe 3 or so of them are decent, the rest are garbage. NA> For my point of view: I find this list to be like most 'beginners' NA> lists I've seen - 20% filled with homework questions, 60% filled with NA> real questions with very helpful answers, and 20% filled with NA> bickering about religious wars (about perl, about response-style, NA> about email formatting, etc.) I honestly think that mix is normal and NA> indicates that the list is basically healthy, so I live with the 40% NA> that isn't useful to me, because the 60% is so useful. (Plus the NA> 'mute' feature of gmail is great!) the formatting wars you are whining about are important. communication is the goal here and if everyone posted however they wanted, not much would happen. there are rules to email/usenet and they were created long ago in ancient days and they are still valid. we read top to bottom so post that way. we don't need to see the old emails fully quoted so edit them (that rule came out of actual needs for less storage and bandwidth. even though that isn't important anymore it is still a better way to write emails). NA> In regards to Shlomi and his approach to the emails - he posts a lot. NA> Most of it is timely, accurate, and helpful. Even before this thread, NA> I had a real sense that he was keeping the list quality high - even if NA> a small part of his content is about religious wars. I don't mind the NA> links to perl-begin at all - perl-begin has been a great resource for NA> me. I thought this post about contributing to open source was NA> off-topic, and I'm glad someone pointed that out - but I think his NA> personal signal/noise ratio is high, and I think that discouraging him NA> from posting isn't good for the list. the rules are those who contribute and help, the make the rules. lurkers can jump in but their voices are usually discounted. it is that way since otherwise it would become lord of the flies in perl. NA> In general, it seems like people on this list seem to be very NA> responsive, but often are rather harsh about email formatting and NA> such, while being somewhat mild about people asking the list to do NA> their job/homework for them. That has always seemed backwards to me NA> :) nope. you are backwards to it! :) NA> I don't always agree with the answers/advice about the religious wars NA> - but I think it's important for all new netizens/programmers to learn NA> how to spot religious issues, so I don't feel it's necessary to jump NA> in. and you are being religious about religious issues. pot meet kettle. :) uri -- Uri Guttman ------ u...@stemsystems.com -------- http://www.sysarch.com -- ----- Perl Code Review , Architecture, Development, Training, Support ------ --------- Gourmet Hot Cocoa Mix ---- http://bestfriendscocoa.com --------- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
