There is definitely a cabal here but it is mostly good.
You shouldn't take the cabal out of context. Perl has
been under literal seige from multiple corporate and
university funded troll armies for years. Combine that
with anonymous monks and the need for a cabal becomes
obvious. The cabal is extremely battle-hardened and
prone to react rapidly to extingish skirmishes on the
monastery perimeter. They can be wrong and obnoxious
at times, resulting in friendly fire casulaties, but
consider the alternatives. The biggest problem with
the cabal is this: if they don't appreciate your sense
of humor (or anything really) you'll be branded as a
troll and they will troll you too. Once the "special"
kids get offended by your humor and the internet
generation labels you and the video gamers target
you--they will never stop. Once that happens you
might as well log out or start over with a new name
that behaves because they treat anonymous monks much
better.