[Dahut-pm] Regarding Dahut.pm

[Kip Hampton]

Hi Jay.

I heard over the weekend that there was a plan afoot to shut down the 
Dahut.pm Perl Mongers group. I'm writing in opposition to that plan to 
pull the plug.

Its true that, unlike, say, Boston.pm or Paris.pm, the Dahut group is 
"virtual". Members are scattered all over the globe and, as a practical 
matter, we don't do some of the things that "regular" .pms do (no 
monthly technical or social meetings, no local community outreach to 
other technical or service organizations, etc.). Despite our scattershot 
geographical distribution, however, the Dahuts fit every other criterion 
  of an active and activist Perl community: we coordinate on maintaining 
and developing modules for CPAN, we work together on both the topics and 
content of the books, presentations, and other educational materials 
that we present to the community at large, and, perhaps most 
importantly, we're always the funnest table at the bar during YAPC and 
OSCON conferences.

It is also true that our membership is small and that our .pm mailing 
list and wiki have fallen into disuse. Mostly, we're victims of our own 
success. While most members chat with one another daily on IRC, the 
reality is that the each member of the original Dahut core has gone on 
to distinguish themselves both as Perl hackers and in the broader 
technical world and we simply don't have the time to kick things around 
that we used to. These days, we're more likely to pair off on specific 
projects (or get one another hired in as an issue expert) than we are to 
go after more generic projects as group.

I ask you to please reconsider your decision to pull the plug on 
Dahut.pm. We may be a pack of irreverent absurdists but the Dahuts are 
no joke. As for the mailing list and wiki, I'm willing to personally 
commit time to make sure that the yard stays mowed and the papers don't 
pile up on the front steps.

Thanks for your consideration,
Kip Hampton, Dahut.pm member in good standing.

ps: I should note that, as a group, the Dahuts are not above naked 
bribery and/or extortion. This means that, should your decision go our 
way, you can expect to drink for free at least one night at the next 
conf you attend with a significant Dahut contingent and that you can 
trust our entire membership to state publicly that any rumors relating 
to your special fondness for woodchucks are categorically not true and 
anyway it was just that once and you said you were sorry.