Re: Why Perl Monks Works for Me

To me PM, seems to have that happy state where there are a goodly number of people at different levels of knowledge and expertise and a culture of being both helpful and meta-helpful - teaching people how to ask good questions rather than heavy flaming for poor netiquette.

Also - there appears to be a reasonably steady influx of new people asking questions, learning and growing, which presumably helps avoid stagnation.

I found it interesting that you found the embarassment of asking here such a strong disincentive to ask "stupid" questions and a help to having the knowledge stick. Ironically, I suspect the helpful culture here has that effect more strongly than a newbie-abusive culture would (although the latter might have the same intention, but achieve it less well).

Comment on Re: Why Perl Monks Works for Me

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Re^2: Why Perl Monks Works for Me by revdiablo (Prior) on Dec 05, 2006 at 20:26 UTC
Perhaps the key difference is here he may feel mild (to strong?) embarrassment, whereas other places he would feel outrage or defensiveness at being flamed. There has to be some level of personal accountability, but not so much that people are driven away. Not that I think the Monastery has a monopoly on helpfulness, or completely lacks problems, but I think on average the balance is maintained fairly well.	[reply]
Re^2: Why Perl Monks Works for Me by Andrew_Levenson (Hermit) on Dec 05, 2006 at 20:28 UTC
I suppose it is, hmm... I feel foolish when I ask questions of a trivial class, when everyone seems to be pushing the limits of specialized areas of the language. Maybe I tend to feel that way because when I was new here, I was new to everything related to it as well, but near all of the newbies that came after me have a strong footing elsewhere? `$\=" ";$u=0;$w=0;x(qw/4A 16 07 86/);sub x{while(@_){$u**=$w?$w:$#_; print map{$w<$u?chr(hex shift):chr(hex reverse(shift))}$_;$w+=length%2 +!=1?-1:1}}` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Why Perl Monks Works for Me by webfiend (Vicar) on Dec 05, 2006 at 22:18 UTC
I feel foolish when I ask questions of a trivial class, when everyone seems to be pushing the limits of specialized areas of the language. I think you've hit on exactly why I rarely post questions unless I'm just dying to know. I know for a fact that at least 90% of the things I want to ask can be answered by `perldoc`, google, or Super Search. And on top of that, at least 95% of the answers I can give have already been given by the time I read the question. So most of my posts (actual percentage unknown) involve navel-gazing in the Meditations section. I'm not saying it's good or bad, that's just how I end up doing things here.	[reply]
Re^4: Why Perl Monks Works for Me by demerphq (Chancellor) on Dec 06, 2006 at 00:46 UTC
I know for a fact that at least 90% of the things I want to ask can be answered by perldoc, google, or Super Search. Thats generally true yes, but sometimes asking a group of experienced people is still better. For instance they may know your skill set and be able to steer you in a direction that pure research wouldn't take you. I mean thats basically what school in general is about, just a refinement of that basic principle. A library alone is a fine thing, but a library connected to a university full of profs willing to answer your questions and give advice is much much better. --- $world=~s/war/peace/g	[reply]
Re^3: Why Perl Monks Works for Me by f00li5h (Chaplain) on Dec 14, 2006 at 09:17 UTC
I'm sure that you always have something to offer, even if it's just commic releif ... that's what most of my posts are (it's a self defense mechinism mostly), that and the content of $thing_i_just_read - which is generally something merlyn wrote years ago anyway `@_=qw; ask f00li5h to appear and remain for a moment of pretend better than a lifetime;;s;;@_[map hex,split'',B204316D8C2A4516DE];;y/05/os/&print;`	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Why Perl Monks Works for Me by Andrew_Levenson (Hermit) on Dec 05, 2006 at 20:23 UTC
Ah, but to me, threat of embarrassment and anger wouldn't exist without the helpful culture. If it were a newbie abusing group, I wouldn't be embarrassed, I'd just leave. Here, I can be embarrassed or ashamed because there is actually something of value for me to lose, namely the help and support of the monks. I suppose embarrassed is not the right word. Perhaps, apprehensive? `$\=" ";$u=0;$w=0;x(qw/4A 16 07 86/);sub x{while(@_){$u**=$w?$w:$#_; print map{$w<$u?chr(hex shift):chr(hex reverse(shift))}$_;$w+=length%2 +!=1?-1:1}}` [download]	[reply] [d/l]