IMHO, the difference, I think, between professional publications and Perl programming is that the professional associations don't have a culture that states "TMTOWTDI". But that is precisely what makes this question interesting to me:

• Since any comment style that the reader can comprehend is "acceptable", we are clearly straining at gnats. This is ok, because the camel is on my desk, not in my coffee cup. :)
• If we all agree that this is a preference issue, the problem is equivalent to "What style is easiest to understand?" And, reading your preferences provides me with useful information about what people like/dislike.

Having said this, perhaps I need to initiate a poll...

-papidave