I somehow missed your response to my last reply to you, about simply using parentheses to specify the order of operations, to possibly solve the problem existing in your instinct, and as far as I could tell, to solve the problem Corion mentions here. Parentheses are used for a similar purpose for mathematical expressions in perl, as well as non-computer math. The need for parentheses around parts of certain expressions does not indicate a problem with any operator or function within the expression. That's simply the way math is.

(still guessing what explanation would satisfy your instinct...) How often is the "bitwise or" used anyway? Lets say you need to use (|$a|) all the time. Is that really worse than abs($a)? Enough so to justify people attacking me for my idea?

I also want to note here that sporty's response to me was one of the worst responses under the guise of a reasoned argument that I've seen. It doesn't deserve a direct reply. Come to think of it, neither do you, so consider this a half reply to you and sporty.

Oh, as for the comments about Perl::Improved not contributing anything and me just caring about the number of replies, the vast majority of the 91+ replies, in the numerous sub-threads that sprung from Perl::Improved Volume 0, Number 0 were not dominated by myself, and were not flames or trolls, and some people actually agreed with me. I didn't even keep track of all the posts, but my instinct tells me that they contributed to the Perl community. If you think otherwise, speak to the contributers in question. My instinct is that your argument for why they shouldn't have posted what they did will be as poor as your argument expression of instinct is in this thread.