in reply to Re^8: Something changed the creation time/date of all my posts?
in thread Something changed the creation time/date of all my posts?

> I'm returning after years away and trying to work out what I missed. What other great dramas have there been?

Top 10 PerlMonks Drama Threads (2015‑2025)

Detailed Summaries

Rank Thread Year Key participants Main points of contention Outcome
1The Great CPAN Migration Debate2016@csh, @brian, @johndoeWhether to move widely‑used CPAN modules into a private internal mirror to improve stability.Consensus to keep core modules on CPAN, create a vetted internal mirror for critical packages.
2The ‘use strict;’ Controversy2017@simon, @lisa, @perl‑guruSome legacy projects resisted mandatory use strict;, claiming it broke existing code.Majority adopted strict with gradual refactoring; older code marked with no strict where unavoidable.
3Perl 6 vs. Perl 5: The Never‑Ending War2018@rjbs, @mike, @perl‑devArguments over which language to invest in; Perl 6 (Raku) was seen as a fork.Agreement that Perl 5 remains production‑ready; Perl 6 development continues separately.
4The ‘undef’ Bug That Broke Production2019@alex, @opslead, @bughunterA subtle undef value propagated through a hash, causing a fatal error in a web service.Created a checklist for defined checks; added unit tests for edge cases.
5Module Naming Wars: Foo::Bar vs. Bar::Foo2020@nathan, @carl, @module‑maintainerTwo competing modules claimed the same namespace, leading to load‑order conflicts.Adopted the CPAN naming guidelines; one module renamed to avoid clash.
6The ‘no warnings’ Abuse Scandal2021@security, @devlead, @auditorDevelopers suppressed warnings to hide bugs, later discovered during a security audit.Instituted a policy: no warnings only allowed in isolated test files, not production code.
7Perl 7 Announcement Fallout2022@perl‑core, @community, @early‑adopterMixed reactions to the proposed Perl 7 features (e.g., default use v5.30).Core team postponed major changes; offered a migration guide for early adopters.
8The ‘eval’ Security Nightmare2023@sec‑team, @devops, @hackerAn eval of user‑controlled data led to remote code execution in a CGI script.Recommended replacing eval with safe parsers; added static analysis checks.
9Legacy Code Refactor Showdown2024@legacy‑owner, @refactor‑guru, @project‑leadDebate over whether to rewrite a decade‑old codebase or incrementally refactor.Decided on incremental refactor with automated test coverage to minimize risk.
10The ‘use v5.30;’ Compatibility Rift2025@new‑dev, @maintainer, @opsNew projects demanded use v5.30; while older systems failed on newer syntax.Established a compatibility matrix; older services locked to v5.28, new ones to v5.30.

Yes it's AI slop...

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^10: Something changed the creation time/date of all my posts?
by Random_Walk (Prior) on Nov 13, 2025 at 08:02 UTC

    Hi Rolf,

    Thanks, Some of those look interesting. Do you have any links to save me plugging away in supersearch all morning?

    Cheers,
    R.

    Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!
[reply]
      Looks like the AI pretty much ignored the "perlmonks" qualifier, so super search is unlikely to help.
[reply]
        I'm pretty sure most "input" doesn't come from perlmonks, for instance I didn't recognize many monikers. And rjbs hasn't been much active here, his last post was from 2013.

        The question remains if discussions from other sources (p5p, other perl mailing lists, reddit and stackoverflow) were conflated here or if those "dramas" just never happened outside h-AI-llucination.

        Anyway it's a relieve to see that LLMs are getting better and that we can soon replicate BUK'ish fight-threads with the help of ChatGPT, in order to entertain the masses again.🙃

        > so super search is unlikely to help.

        given the state of our beleaguered servers - AI-dehanced™ - I'd recommend using google's site-search instead.

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

        🙃) Yes I'm sarcastic again.

[reply]
      Ähm... Like I said it's AI slop and IMHO mostly hallucinated

      But if you can't google the drama you are looking for, you might ask DuckAI to generate it.

      (Sarcasm indented ;)

      On a more serious note, we are not terribly interested in recreating drama 🤷🏻

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

[reply]

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