You're right; this is something that has been discussed many times before.

You are aware that there are ways to find these nodes already, aren't you? You can:

• Start by looking at Best Nodes, which lists the top nodes in the Monastery.

• Go to a given monk's home node and sort their write-ups by Highest Reputation first.

• Browse home nodes for nodes recommended by monks who's opinions you respect.

• Check out the Most Visited Nodes. Or, simply bounce around.</P

• And so on. Poke about in the corners, fiddle with the Snippets, etc.

Sure, it requires a little bit of work on your part, but isn't that what learning to master Perl--or programming in general--generally requires? Sure, someone could hand you the best nodes on a platter, but it's up to you to determine how to use that information to your advantage. All the best technique in the world won't help you improve unless you learn how to incorporate those ideas into your own work.

Also, keep in mind that highly reputed nodes aren't necessarily the most useful ones. Yes, we have some highly rated nodes containing wonderfully technical wisdom, however, we also have OT nodes with high reputations (including some of mine).

Reputation is a darkly-reflected idea of how the community at large liked a node at the time. It's not a measure of its accuracy, utility, or usefulness in any real-world situation. In fact, some of the most useful nodes have reasonably low reputations. I believe it's better to make your own decisions regarding a node's excellence. Vote that opinion, certainly, but take Reputation with a grain of salt. Finally, remember that some nodes have low reputations not because they were inaccurate, but because they were unpopular or controversial. Again, only you can judge a node's true worth.

As someone has pointed out repeatedly, 1_000_000 XP and $1.79 will buy you a cup of coffee.

It may be more fruitful to pick an area you wish you knew more about and then look for threads covering that area. I think you'll find as many gems buried at the bottom of threads as you will perusing any given monk's most well received works.

--f

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