Would it not be better to focus on trying to affect the future instead of rehashing the mistakes of the past--especially when there may be more to the story than what's been discussed publically?

One of the strength of Perl is its Community. Listening to Perlgurus et al. words like "Culture", "History", "Community" etc. could be called keywords for our Culture.
So recording our History -- recording strange things of the past -- is a part of Community building as well. Fortunately there is no PERL PEOPLE MAGAZINE and no THE PERL SUN writing articles like "Tom vs. Randal", but we have to face it, some people are a important part of Perl Culture and the Perl Community. Ergo this people are public persons like actors, politicians etc. Wether they or we like it or not. If you ask for community you get community.
Of course we could use the Orwellian/Norh Korean model of history writing, but I'd prefer a more honest discourse showing the ugly sides as well.