While I have some level of skill with Perl, I don't have the talent of someone like merlyn, TheDamian, or Ingy döt net.

Talent is something that you have innately and you don't really need to be taught (although learning and experience can enhance it). Skill is something you can acquire with enough hard-work, patience, and bruises even if you don't have talent (just look at me :)

That's not to say that talented coders are that skilled either. They might have the goods without knowing how to use them, so they lack skil and judgement.

In the artistic world, the "talent" are the people whose name appear "above the line", meaning in the programs and on the posters and so on. In the opera world, my wife is "talent", gets her own dressing room, signs autographs, and so on, but she's backed by tens of skilled people holding union cards, tools, wireless headsets, and so on so the show goes on as it should. They have amazing skills in their area, but they aren't considered "talent", even if they are a natural with a chisel and a piece of wood. :)

The Perl community is similar. We have are "talent", but there are a lot of skilled people ensuring that they get to do what they do. For instance, Stonehenge wouldn't be the big deal it is without the fine people at O'Reilly publishing our books. It's not just that they publish them, but the editorial feedback, marketing efforts, and community involvement make the books (and our benefit from them) so much better. Randal is "talent", but a lot of skilled people are behind that.