As another relative newbie to this site, may I offer a suggestion-when you say "club", subconsciously this can be taken as "I'm a member and you're not." Perhaps a better way to put it is not a "Perl club" but a "Perl brotherhood", in which we welcome those seekers of understanding looking to see if Perl may help them. (At least this latter version is how I have felt since finding this site.)

(And yes, I was hoping that was meant in jest, or at least after the fashion of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal (1729).)

As to BazB in Re: The Rules of Perl Club , I understand and share the feelings you expressed. The difference between a "good" and a "bad" monk, it seems (at least to me) is that a "good" monk is willing to offer a hand back to those coming after, sharing the wisdom s/he has gained rather than hoarding it greedily.

I am also reminded of a quote from Fred MacMurray as Prof. Ned Brainard in Son of Flubber (1963), on trial regarding one of his experiments, and being asked about encouraging his students to try things and fail, his response was: "Anyone who falls flat on their face is at least moving in the right direction -- forward." (It is one of those quotes that keeps me going through days when I think the floor tile pattern looks remarkably like my reflection.)