I believe concentrating on XP tends to turn your presence here into more of a competition. When I first joined this site, I was all about XP points. Did I vote on nodes because I thought I'd get points from it? Yep. Did I get a lot of points this way? I don't know. Am I worried about it now? Not in the least.

I would have to think that the people who truly pay attention on this site, will know just who is the real deal. And I don't mean only those who have thousands of XP points AND a good reputation. I mean those who are serious about learning Perl. Part of learning means asking questions. Sometimes it means asking questions to which the answers are obvious, only to be told to RTFM. I doubt there are many people who have NEVER been told to RTFM. To implement a system such as the one you suggest would discourage those questions. What then? I don't know about anyone else, but many times I've learned something myself while trying to answer a question posed by a member who is a newcomer to Perl.

There are monks(not in the level 5 sense) who come here simply for answers. They are entitled. But the names I regularly see on this site, are people that I believe are genuinely interested in learning/helping. I really don't think it matters if there are those that only seek to look like good programmers.

At this point in my Monastery Life, I don't care much about XP. I care more about the quality of my posts. Yes, its pretty cool when I level up(I just did actually), but its not the end-all be-all for me. My goal here is not to achieve Sainthood. My goal here is not to have people ++ my nodes because I am who I am(which I don't think they would anyway ;0). My goal here is not to be a better monk than anyone else. My goal here IS to learn Perl and become more skilled as a programmer. My goal here IS to become a part of a community where the emphasis is on learning, helping, and in many ways, even teaching.

Those that are here for the XP Points and just go around ++'ing nodes will either lose interest and go away, or either change modes and become a productive, if not sincere, member of Perlmonks.

Besides, you don't get many votes when you are a lower level, and any person who is going to spend the time needed to voting enough nodes to achieve the higher levels(bishop, pontiff, saint) might be deserving anyway. <sarcasm>If nothing else, they are dedicated.</sarcasm>

I'm not trying to say I pay NO attention to XP Points because I do. I am trying to say that they are far from the most important part of my being here.

---

Amel