I'm bundling a few replies and clarifications into a single post:

Re: My misrepresentation of tilly's position

<cite> I'm sure that some people have decided after reading this far which side I'm on. Frankly, I don't understand the politics here well enough to know whether I'm on a side or not. </cite>

I suppose this remark was seen as disingenuous. I assure you it was not.

Re: Personal voting attacks

I read a few remarks in different threads about sudden voting activity on long-inactive nodes and rashly concluded that it was an acknowledged phenomenon: mea culpa. I meant to comment on this phenomenon, rather than on the contexts in which I heard about it. (Incidentally, I know a little about math and a little about people, and I don't think it's either mathematically or psychologically far-fetched. It only requires a few small-minded people, not a shadow conspiracy. Thanks to the senior monks for taking the time to investigate these reports. I'm interested in knowing whether or not the phenomenon is real, but I'm not keen on any of the proposed remedies.)

Re: Mutated versions of real-life issues

<cite> The points you made about: .... Seem to be mutated versions of real life issues: .... </cite> I would prefer to say that my points commented on some of the issues you listed. As for being "mutated..." I kinda like that :-) Let's hope these mutated, recombinated, crossed-over ideas achieve memetic success in rough proportion to their value to the Perl Monks community.

Re: My anonymity

This may have been a mistake. Frankly, I'm doing it again only out of sheer embarrassment. Although I hinted at some paranoid fear as the reason, this was just me being cynical about myself, accusing myself of cowardice because I didn't trust what I'm pretty sure now was a pure and noble reason. My Perl skills are progressing slowly, mainly because I don't use Perl at work, and therefore I can't contribute much to Perl Monks. Nice posts on etiquette always get high rep because they're mostly uncontroversial and touch on issues that affect everyone. As a parasitic Novice, I wanted to reassure myself that I was motivated by genuine affection for the community rather than just milking the Perl Monks esprit de corps for XP.

Re: Action and enforcement

I didn't mean to imply that reforms were needed to the voting system, and I agree that none of the suggestions I made are enforceable. In fact, I'm very conservative about the voting system, and I doubt that any measure taken to improve voter behavior would be worth the trouble and loss of voting freedom.

Re: My apparently dark view of the Perl Monks community

My concern was sincere, but I must have been feeling particularly pessimistic at the time of my post. Given the size and vitality of the community, my reference to <cite> the amount backstabbing, bitterness, and open hostility on Perl Monks </cite> blew the problem out of proportion. If I wasn't having a ball on PM, I wouldn't care enough to do this. vroom says, <cite> I think it is safe to say that no one I have talked to has been happy to see anyone leave this site. </cite> That eases my worries considerably.

Thanks for your input, everybody, and God bless!