In the past several weeks I have been working on something that pushes both my perl skills/knowledge. As well this pushes what is possible with perl, the latter part largely because of the former. I have had to ask a lot of questions in IRC channels, in user groups, and here on perlmonks.

In many cases I would get responces such as "don't do that", "That is evil", "your an idiot". In almost all cases these responces were correct, and after discussion a better way/alternative was always found. Despite this I cannot help but think that a more fact-filled and less confrontational responce would have been better. I did my best not to respond with anger, or by arguing a loosing battle. However I still feel as though many of my questions were regarded with hostility. And worst of all I feel like asking my questions had a negative impact on my status within these groups. This despite my willingness to accept all feedback openly, and consider/use all help I recieved.

My guess is that either I was doing something annoying, or that I was doing someonething that is usually done by annoying people and was lumped in with them. My goal is to learn, I am pushing the envelope to broaden my range. I am open to, and in fact desire feedback, not so I can argue, but so I can learn from my own mistakes and in many cases my own foolishness.

So, my request for comments is this:

• How can one go about pushing the envelope without angering perl devs?
• How can one ask a question without being annoying?
• How can one convey that they will recieve feedback openly, and not take offense?
• Any other suggestions on this topic?
• Is the community so tainted by annoying users who care nothing for learning and just want others to write solutions for them that when someone genuenly is ready to grow it is unrecognisable?
• We all start with little or no knowledge and grow through experience and questions. Perlmonks is a great place for this to occur. I have to say that of all the places I went for assistance this has been the most understanding and pleasant.

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