[sf-perl] Perl website for noobies

Quinn Weaver quinn at fairpath.com
Wed Apr 2 21:12:03 PDT 2008


Holy crap!  Andy Lester and Randal Schwartz are duking it out on our
list.  I feel like a spectator who turns up in the town square to find
Lords Montague and Capulet going at it. ;) And Joey, who was just
making a naive attempt to be helpful, is probably wishing for
flameproof drawers.

My take on all this as list mom:

- Please don't harsh people.  If they're making mistakes, correct them
  politely.  If you really care about community-building, you have to suffer
  some fools gladly.  (Or, rather, suffer misguided behavior from normal
  people who are just making mistakes.)

  And yes, this applies even to Perl Gods.

- This list is a de facto ad hoc forum for help.  People use it
  that way from time to time, and it seems to work fine.  But...

- When this happens, it's perfectly OK to remind people of / hip people to
  PerlMonks and suggest they post there too.  Just don't be rude about
  it.  (Ignoring their question and posting 'http://perlmonks.org/' as
  your entire response would be an example of rudeness.  So would running
  them down for not knowing about PerlMonks in the first place.  Not
  saying anyone is doing this, just giving examples.)

Bottom line:  this list is unlike others in that we actively try to
promote a civil atmosphere.  This means have a lower threshhold for
considering something a flame... which is why I keep writing posts
like this.

If you want to post on the list, please be mindful of these guidelines.
With your help, we can keep up an ambience that's welcoming to newbies,
where they feel safe to speak out, ask dumb questions, and learn
better, without getting burninated.

I suspect one reason people ask questions here and not on PerlMonks is
shyness--fear of being flamed.  If we can help people overcome their
shyness by being helpful and friendly, all while teaching them more
about Perl, then all the better.

Excelsior,

-- 
Quinn Weaver, independent contractor  |  President, San Francisco Perl Mongers
http://fairpath.com/quinn/resume/     |  http://sf.pm.org/
510-520-5217


More information about the SanFrancisco-pm mailing list