Say you want to create a simple dynamic website. Maybe you'll choose PHP. Templating there is easy. It's just...well...PHP. Or you could use Perl and choose Mason or CGI.pm or Template::Toolkit or Catalyst or HTML::Template or Template.pm or Text::Template or god knows what else. Your risk has now increased dramatically over PHP. ...

Huh?

It seems that you're equating more choice with more risk. How does that work?

If I have more choice, then I pick the solution that works best for me. Some time ago, my colleague and I looked at templating systems you mentioned, decided on one of them, and went ahead. The solution we chose (Template::Toolkit) works absolutely fine for us. And I'm currently investigating Catalyst (and therefore DBIx::Class as well) and CGI::Application for future projects. I'm glad there are choices -- I'd hate to be stuck in the mid-90's, doing print statements inside a Perl Module for mod_perl.

The community is also right out. People bicker and argue and have different opinions. Let everyone who uses perl (sic) put their two cents in towards defining The Solution(s), but have a clear list of what those recommended solutions are so the n00bs don't ignore us in favor of somebody else.

Sure, there's a lot of discussion in the perl community. Should we all keep our mouths shut? Not much is going to get done if we're not allowed to discuss things. And if you're looking for a single solution for every possible programming challenge under the sun, I'd have to say it doesn't exist.

However, Perl can address many programming situations, and it continues to have a great community backing it up. What problem are you trying to solve?