You do bring an interesting point to the table, despite your efforts to make a nuisance of yourself. The concept of censorship is pretty distasteful; yet, what can we do if there is a persistent belligerence on the part of one of our own?

Though we play at this having a more Eastern bent to it, the bulk of our active constituency seem to actually be from the Western hemisphere; some up and coming folks from India being the primary exception, and not yet a majority, as far as I can tell.

Thus, a Socratic view of the matter seems prudent to at least investigate; and in his writings on the matter of socially prescribable behavior, arguably the basis for all Western jurisprudence, he indicates, if memory serves, three main purposes for any system of rules:

1. To codify a set of rules agreeable to the society;
2. To encourage those not predisposed to follow those rules to acquiesce, and;
3. To remove disruptive elements from society who cannot be so coerced.

As PerlMonks is a society of the written word (code being a subset thereof), our rules are fundamentally about the written word, and can only be enforced with the written word as a consequence.

The Borg's Belly being the only kind of incarceration possible under the design of PerlMonks where your liberties (i.e., the ability to post in the ChatterBox) can be constrained without completely restricting your free speech, should behavior become egregious, we have little at present which can be done to coerce the unrepentatent amongst us to behave in a manner consistent with this site's history.

When someone is hell bent on stirring up trouble, a truly open society like PerlMonks is essentially defenseless to the inane ramblings of the lunatic.

And typical of any open system, it only takes one jackass to ruin it for everyone.

Whatever your reasons, jeffa, it is clear that you intend to ruin the open nature of PerlMonks. Perhaps it is time PerlMonks engaged in censorship. Those who act like children generally need to be treated like children.

I don't pretend to understand your motives, jeffa, but I miss the Monk you used to be. It is sad that to think you might be remembered as a raving lunatic rather than the brilliant software engineer and Perl champion that you otherwise rightfully deserve.

You wrote the node upon which our posting guidelines were based -- it was a brilliant example of a highly insightful and organized mind. It's a shame you have denigrated to failing your own litmus test for material worthy of PerlMonks.

Censorship? If it is needed. For my part, I mourne the loss of a good man.