Personally, I think this whole thread is a lot of hullabaloo over very little.

...

I also think it's right that the twits have been exposed and confronted.

There.

That's what this hullabaloo is about, nothing else: a strong reaction of the community, er, of the many people who do post to this fabulous site and help each other. It's the way to confront them, and the only way: a root note with many follow-ups, where many expend some brain energy trying to comprehend the question and think of a solution and post their thoughts in response.

A weak node without many follow-ups, perhaps some words in the chatterbox, /msg'ing them - that would not have them confronted, let alone exposed.

Let's look at the real costs:

• Some unimaginative twit got some extra XP
• Someone else's question or poem got posted twice

No, these are not the real costs, and you know that. Clicking ++ or -- doesn't cost anything, and an extra node in the database - bleh. No, the real costs are, as liverpole exposed in the OP:

1. It is disrespectful to this community that I've come to love
   as demerphq expressed in another context: somebody just shits in your bed and doesn't give a damn about you
2. It lowers the standards by which Perlmonks will, unavoidably, be judged
   huh? they condone posting questions answered elsewhere, stolen stuff, and even reward the poster? (with XP, the "currency" here)
3. It is demeaning, both those authors whose work has been stolen, and to those authors at Perlmonks who take pride in the commitment to the quality of their questions, answers and Perl code
   Haha! look at those pavlow dogs, I throw them a question and they answer! what fun!
4. It is frustrating to have Perlmonks forced to be associated with a practice which is both unethical and illegal

And the biggest cost IMHO - another seed of mistrust and off-topic distraction whilst regarding questions and answers - akin to the suspicion towards posts asking us to do their homework.

--shmem

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}