I think it'd be best if I clarified what I said in the chatterbox, because it could easily have been construed wrongly. This would especially be the case if anyone took it as criticism of you, azatoth. It wasn't. Let me try this again.

When you ask, 'Why is XP-Whoring Bad?' I think we have to get down to a definition pretty quickly. XP-whoring is not, to me, when you write a non-code post. And if having people upvote your posts makes you happy, that's wonderful. I don't think there's any necessary relationship between XP-whoring and feeling happy or welcome. Indeed, if PerlMonks makes you happy, and you're learning by the 'metric assload', that's a victory for PerlMonks. I wish everyone the same.

XP-whoring, to me, is when you do things simply, or mostly, for the XP you hope to get. That is not, I think, something which is conductive to the health of our community.

Now that's pretty hard to measure; only you really know why you do what you do. And yet, our prosperity as a community depends, more than anything else, on the attitudes our citizens carry with them.

Anyone here can vote randomly, just to get the XP, nobody will know but them. You can quietly help degrade the voting system, and you'll win. Only the community will lose.

Likewise, what is accomplished when a person begs for votes in the Chatterbox, because they've only got a few points until some level? Should such a person feel good about those votes? That's not a matter of someone saying 'thank you' or 'good job' for your post; it's giving a handout to a mooch. How does doing this help the community?

Or pointing out, in the chatterbox, something you've written. Do you think it's germaine to the conversation, and likely to be interesting to the others? Or are you airing the equivalent of annoying advertisements? In my opinion, the distinction is important.

I could go on in this vein, but I hope it's not necessary. It's not enough that you feel happy and welcome here, and that you learn things. It's important that others do too; whether they will depends, in part, on you. If you're doing what you do for others, as well as yourself, you're not an XP-whore.

Just take things in moderation. Enjoy your XP, sure, but keep your priorities straight. Hopefully you already do. If your actions make people feel welcome and help them learn, I wish you a metric assload of XP.

In reply to Re: YAXpD by Petruchio
in thread YAXpD by azatoth

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