This could keep us from missing on some good people. Not every perl hacker is on perlmonks. What if they sign up? They would start with 0 xp. So.. the color would tempt at least myself, to look at their stuff a little less. I know how psychology works, I am not presumptuous to think I am inmune.

I've been on perlmonks a little time, just about 5 months. And when someone posts, all I see is a handle. It's great. It makes me think 'should i listen, is this informed.. ?' - then you look them up.. and xp, still.. it's a number..
And you look up their posts.. maybe their site.. and then you think either 'hmm.. this doode has nothing else to do with their lives and they just squatted here for so long that .. hehe..'
or.. "holy cow, this dude's my new hero.. this is amazing.. I feel humbled.. This inspires me to do better.. ".

The vagueness of numbers helps at least me, to dig in.