castaway,
This subject has been discussed several times before.

• RFC: Off-Topic Links
• Off Topic section
• "Off Topic" Section?
• OT: Does this site need an Off-Topic area?

Off topic nodes are just something that you can't avoid in a site like this.

I am not saying that I indiscriminately approve of OT nodes, but I don't refuse an answer when I have it, even if I feel that the question isn't entirely on topic.

The Monastery has been answering OT questions (database, shell scripts, Windows services, Unix daemons, and so on) for long time, just because Perl programming does not happen in a vacuum.

However, the most important reason why people are asking for help here, is that you first ask the ones you trust, even if you know that it might not be the most appropriate place.

On this subject, you may find enlightening the following posts as well.

• When is OT really OT?
• If the only forum you know is PM, every question look like a SoPW

The Monastery has already its weapons to protect itself against the OT invasion, i.e. monks with "considering" powers can vote to keep or delete a node. It's a democratic system, which seems to be working fine, IMO.

Update. Fixed some wording problems.

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