I think that general netiquette dictates that you search for a FAQ before posting to a forum site. I'm just guessing. I didn't downvote him myself, but it is somewhat irritating to have someone post blindly without first going into lurk mode and making a noticeable effort to see how a community functions.

That's just a guess.

For what it's worth, when I saw you post, I went back and ++'d the top node -- it's now pretty evenly balanced at +17/-14.

For pretty well any gathering of geeks, I would expect newcomers to just hang out, listen and watch what's going on. They should wait until they're comfortable with how things work before starting to post. They should also know that they should also do a lot of reading first. Any newbie should certainly dig around the site and read a couple of the obviously labelled help pages.

If one of the FAQs said something like It's usual and customary to post a node introducing yourself, then the top post would be welcomed and expected. I would say it's more common for people to introduce themselves in the CB, and let their technical knowledge speak for itself in their posts and replies. Talking about yourself is more appropriate on your home node -- if the top post was on the author's home node, none of this discussion would be taking place.

While I agree with you and others on most points, there are often cultural differences that can come into play
It may be that Maseum thought that introducing himself in the way that he did was “the thing to do” as English does not appear to be his first language.

But that’s not the point I was trying to make.
naikonta and others had spent some time pointing him in the right direction, normally that would then be reflected in a more balanced XP, but he was being canned for no good reason I thought at that time, bare in mind this was a first post having joined only 3 days before.

It would appear that subsequent Monks agreed ++, and as you pointed out its now +19 / -14 instead of -4 a more balanced tally.

Possibly because a post of the introductory nature doesn't belong in Perl Monks Discussion; I'm not sure where it does belong, but a thought that springs to mind would be Maseum's homenode.

FWIW, I did downvote the node a few days ago, but also /msg'ed Maseum saying why - i.e., because it didn't belong in Perl Monks Discussion.