Actually, the "Guide to the Monastery" and (especially) "Tutorials" links do a remarkably good job of introducing people to the monastery and to Perl. As an experiment, go to the front page and see how long it takes you to find them (hint -- way down on the right-hand side, under "information", or buried in the upper-right jungle).

As a Perl newcomer, I imagine myself coming to the front page and mainly seeing a Q-and-A forum with a bunch of questions I don't understand. I have no way to distinguish between these obscure questions and the more basic questions I have about the language, so I believe that any question is fair game. If I need my problem solved by 5PM today, I don't have time to lurk, either.

Maybe putting a "newcomers' guide" link -- and not a link to the "RTFM" thread -- at the top of the front page, or promoting "Tutorials" from the jumble on the upper right, would help. I'm not arguing it's not polite to lurk before posting (it is), or that these things can't be found with a few minutes' diligent search (they can), but that the interface doesn't make it obvious that this is a place where such things exist, rather than a jumble of Q-and-A.

/s

In reply to Re: New to Perl Link by educated_foo
in thread New to Perl Link by Marza

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