You created your account in 2016, so this post surprises me a little. Like any on-line community, it does take time to get used to what's 'normal' and 'usual'. People here have nicks -- some of those are nicks that they've used elsewhere, and some not. Some of them are real names, some of them are made up. Any use who comments without logging in defaults to Anonymous Monk.

The beauty of Perlmonks is that it's a basic website. It has resisted the ensh*ttification that happened to other websites, so it still looks like something from the late 90s or early 00s. And that's perfect -- we don't care so much about the visual impact of website; the information is the point here. And if you want a different look, you can upload your own CSS that the website will use. We also run lean, so allowing an image for each post would require too many resources. Finally, users can display their work experience and availability on their bio, or not.

This is not Facebook or LinkedIn. This is a technical community for people who want to share questions, issues, announcements, and answers about Perl.

The beauty of Perlmonks is that it's a basic website. It has resisted the ensh*ttification that happened to other websites, so it still looks like something from the late 90s or early 00s.

I generally agree. It's a relatively clean visual design, no cat pictures and you can usually find what you need quickly (unless SuperSearch times out.... again).

But the pre-Dotcom-bubble codebase also has its downsides. chatterbot exists mainly because it's less painful to generate stats and the ability to "scroll back in the current chat" externally than within the site itself. And there is pretty much no problem, none, with the monastery codebase for which you could quickly google a solution or pull an upstream patch.

Not to mention that JavaScript support would make sense in a lot of places. Input validation, visual editor, autosave-to-scratchpath while working on long posts, better chatterbox, etc.

But it's still one of my favourite sites on the internet.

PerlMonks XP is useless? Not anymore: XPD - Do more with your PerlMonks XP
Also check out my sisters artwork and my weekly webcomics

Not to mention that JavaScript support would make sense in a lot of places. Input validation, visual editor, autosave-to-scratchpath while working on long posts, better chatterbox, etc.

I think the problem is the "We'll just add Javascript for this one feature .." slippery slope. Then we also have to build in the ability to gracefully degrade the behavior when the browser using the website doesn't or can't do Javascript. And then the pm-dev folks have to know enough Javascript to maintain that code, as well as the Perl that runs the site.

Alex / talexb / Toronto

Thanks PJ. We owe you so much. Groklaw -- RIP -- 2003 to 2013.

eyepopslikeamosquito which I imagine as a mosquito pest control guy ... The word "choroba" reminds me of an unbeatable chess program

While I found your interpretations amusing (and may be of interest to psychologists ;-) you can discover the true origin of these two names in replies to this classic old node:

• Re: Name Space - My head is hurting, my right eye feels like it's going to pop like a mosquito drinking from an expresso addict with high blood pressure, I want to crawl somewhere damp and dark and quiet and I consider never to touch a keyboard again
• Re: Name Space - choroba means "disease" in Czech (BTW an emoji for this name can be found here)

harangzsolt33, I have no idea of the origin of your PM name (why 33?), so I'd like to see you reply to George_Sherston's classic old node.

I was surprised LanX hasn't replied to that node yet, and hope he does so in the future.

Then there's LanX which reminds me of the Cox cable guy who hooks up the internet at people's houses

Interesting. For some reason I always imagine him clad in Lederhosen eating gingerbread under the Christmas tree :-)

👁️🍾👍🦟

> was surprised LanX hasn't replied
1. Not everything needs to be commented
2. Dunno what a cox cable in lederhosen is. I'm ignorant about porn...

Cheers Rolf
_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
see Wikisyntax for the Monastery}

Zsolt is my real first name. The word "harang" means bell in Hungarian. It's just a random word I decided to throw in, because I guess "zsolt" would be already taken. And 33 is also just a random number. So, I didn't put much thought into creating my username. I just stumbled upon this website somehow and wanted to try it and ask a question, and I had to think of a username. I was so impressed by the helpful nature of people here that I decided to come back frequently even when I didn't have a question. I found that I can learn a lot by simply reading the questions others ask and the answers given, or using the search feature, which I have used a lot... You know, I'm surprised why when I search for an answer on Google, generally the first thing I see is a link to StackOverflow rather a link to PerlMonks. It's almost as if this website was somehow purposely suppressed by Google. (?) I don't know why that is.

I would have never guessed the meaning of eyepopslikeamosquito, but now I understand it, and it makes sense. Thank you for explaining it.

The word "harang" means bell in Hungarian ... Zsolt is my real first name

Whoa, did you ever live in Hungary? In my youth, I was fortunate to be allowed to train for a month at the renowned Spartacus table tennis club in Budapest, where I could also watch the inspirational training sessions of the golden generation of Hungarian table tennis. 🏓

Occasionally, a retired table tennis legend would appear at our lunch table, one Zoltan Berczik. Is your Zsolt first name just a shortened form of Zoltan? Given "harang" means bell, Zsolt is derived from Sultan, combined with your love of chickens gives us an obvious emoji for harangzsolt33: 🔔👳🏽‍♂️🐔

BTW I learnt to swear so well in Hungarian that on my return to Australia, Hungarians in the audience watching my (expletive-laden) matches would walk up and start talking to me in Hungarian right after the match ended. :-)

Update: I remember meeting the legendary Viktor Barna at the famous Albert Park table tennis centre in Melbourne around 1968, which Viktor was visiting as part of his duties as a Dunlop executive. Sadly, Viktor died far too young from a heart attack shortly after that visit (executives tended to eat unhealthily back then and cholesterol was never mentioned). Barna, five times World Mens Singles champion, is arguably the greatest of all time. He invented the "backhand flick" (with a hard bat!) ... which can be clearly seen in this historic youtube of the 1949 English Open. :-) Tragically, the wonderful, quirky, historic Albert Park table tennis facility is now gone forever, demolished circa 1997, replaced by a modern but much smaller one.

I was fortunate to witness first hand Istvan Jonyer winning the Mens Singles World Championship in Kolkata in 1975. Like fellow Hungarian Barna, Jonyer had a great backhand. Istvan is famous for inventing the sidespin loop and was my favourite player back then. I also have fond memories of being chauffeur-driven around Budapest (at high speed!) in 1972 by a young Istvan Jonyer, before he became world champion.

Updated: minor clarifying changes to wording, added chicken to emoji; added more info on Hungarian World Champions Barna and Jonyer

👁️🍾👍🦟

But if I had to add some new features, I would allow people to upload a small picture as an avatar. Maybe add a bio like LinkedIn, so when you click on someone's profile, you could see their work experience, education, etc. It would be nice.

In my opinion, I don't need to see anyone's work experience, or a picture, or anything else that could easily be fabricated, distorted or misconstrued.

Stay around long enough, or simply read the post history of someone, and you'll get a picture of their experience, knowledge and personality.

My resume is my post history, and the software I have published. I feel that the way I am treated by others here is a direct representation of how I've presented myself. It matters not where I have worked, what I look like or where I went to school (I didn't; I'm a high-school drop out).

...besides... all of the things you said you'd change here were long available on LinkedIn, and according to your very own words, that didn't turn out so well (and I won't even make a single comment on Facebook... I gave up all social media a decade ago).

Also, the names you mentioned in your post would all be listed as part of the group of Perlmonks whom I hold extremely high regard and respect for in both their technical knowledge (programming and otherwise) and in the way they personally present themselves to both questions and people. There are several others here much like them.

So clearly PerlMonks isn't your place. Why are you even still here?