The numbers of people that can in any way qualify as experts in the former is in the order of 10 or 20.

These 10 or 20 already use a very smart filter to read Perlmonks: it's called “other people.” At least, I'm pretty sure Larry doesn't always pop up in such a timely fashion simply because of an amazing capability to stay on top of Perlmonks.

Further, the number of people currently interested in Perl6 or Parrot simply doesn't warrant a section. How many SoPWs about Parrot have been you seeing per month? About Perl6?

P6 and Parrot have (almost) none of these.

They have a few central and centralized resources. That is a perfectly purposeful arrangement while the interest is mainly on the hacking (whether language or implementation) rather than using end of things.

And please don't conflate this with the long-standing issue of the cruftiness of the current section structure. That's an entirely different bag of tricks. If it is at all relevant, then only to show that we shouldn't be quick to create sections.

I've argued before on many an occasion that we shouldn't have a Perl6 section and I remain firmly in that camp. I've administrated a board, moderated at several others, and been a regular at countless more. The trend is always plainly visible: the readers of a board always ask for more forums for various things they think would make a cool topic. But the mere wish for there to be lots of discussion about a topic one considers cool doesn't mean there will be any, and where the administrators are inexperienced enough to create such forums before there is a pressing need to divide up topics to keep things orderly, these new areas usually remain barren and empty. At some boards, the administrators did such a thorough job of pre-categorizing discussion that they effectively balkanized all contribution, ending up with a board consisting of 40 dead and almost empty forums — where starting with a single forum or maybe two instead might have allowed them to flourish. Those very 40 forums might have been created during the course of the board's life to keep keep things managable, even — but doing so up front just stunts growth before it has a chance to happen.

Perlmonks isn't quite in the same boat since there's already a large established user base, but I certainly don't see that we are getting flooded with Perl6 and Parrot topics which are making it hard to navigate the site, as things stand.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Makeshifts last the longest.

Further, the number of people currently interested in Perl6 or Parrot simply doesn't warrant a section. How many SoPWs about Parrot have been you seeing per month? About Perl6?

Not many I agree, but I contend that we would see many more if it didn't feel "inappropriate" to ask them here.

Asking "How would I code XYZ in Perl6" is hardly the stuff of a Meditation, but equally, it feels wrong to ask that question as a SoPW.

And please don't conflate this with the long-standing issue of the cruftiness of the current section structure.

I'm not conflating anything. I didn't mention anything about any "cruftiness", and I won't address non-issues based on words I didn't say.

I've argued before on many an occasion that we shouldn't have a Perl6 section and I remain firmly in that camp.

And I'm firmly in the other camp.

As you point out, your experiences based on other places are irrelevant to this place.

...readers...always ask for more forums for various things they think would make a cool topic.

We're talking about Perl 6 here! Something that has been in gestation for what? 3 years or more already? This is hardly a case of a passing fad.

The major driving force behind this subject is none other than that person to which this place holds a shrine.

Perl 6 is being designed to become the language for the next 20 or 30 years. Hardly a fly-by-night ambition. This is not the same as most other requests for new sections. There is unlikely to be any one (or 10) other subject(s) more worthy of the creation of a new section here than Perl 6, and (IMO) if it's possible to do, it should be done.

The way I see it, either Perl 6 is a desirable, almost enevitable "forthcoming event", that the premiere Perl community wants to embrace, support and disseminate--or it's a passing fad that we wish to ignore. At the moment we are pretty much ignoring it and I don't think we should be.

All that is likely to have about as much affect upon the nay-sayers and head-buriers as farting in a hurricane. Still, that's my opinion.

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Examine what is said, not who speaks.

Silence betokens consent.

Love the truth but pardon error.

Questions about Perl6 are perfectly fine meditations in the current state of affairs.

I duly note that there's nothing in your reply talking about making filtering PM easier for the Perl6 experts anymore.

When I said “cool topics,” I wasn't talking about fads. Nor do I qualify Perl6 as a fad, in case you don't remember my stance.

But that doesn't mean anything about whether there should be a section any more than similar reasons meant there should be a CGI section or an XML section or a DBI or SQL section. Where'd you put a question like “how do I do X in Perl5 and how in Perl6” anyway?

Look at the structure of the current sections. We have one for (not so) simple questions; one for musings; a few places to post code; a place for meta-discussion about the site and community itself; for tutorials; for archived answers; etc. Do you see a pattern? They differ by the intent of root nodes, not by technology used — and that's exactly the right distinction. It would ill-advised for new sections to break from this scheme.

Makeshifts last the longest.