[lug] The list

[Tkil]

>>>>> "ljp" == ljp  <ljp at llornkcor.com> writes:

ljp> If you want abuse of newbie Q's, go to comp.lang.perl

please note that usually it's only certain people who are that rough
with newbies.  the fact that at least one of these people has
substantial "name recognition" sometimes causes others to believe that
this is generally approved by the perl community, when in fact it is
not.

i don't know if he still posts regularly, but tom phoenix ("rootbeer")
is unfailingly polite and helpful.  other big names who are usually
nice are Guru Sarathy and Chip Salzenberg.  Randal Schwartz and Joe
Hall can be a bit terse, but they rarely insult people.

if you do want to ask a question in any of the perl forums (fora?),
note that they tend to respond better to questions asking where to
find more information or examples, as opposed to "how do i do <blah>".
something like "i'm trying to do XYZ, i thought i could use 'foo' and
'bar', and i read perlthud and perlsplat, but it still didn't explain
things" would be taken pretty well, i suspect.  it's when they're
asked to parrot documentation and/or provide basic programming
instruction that they tend to get cantankerous.

but you are certainly correct that there are some toxic personalities
in the perl community.  they were enough to make me effectively remove
myself from it.  before i did that, though, i did write up a guide to
surviving and thriving on the EFNet IRC #perl channel:

   http://slinky.scrye.com/~tkil/perl/pound-perl.html

happy hacking,
t.