in reply to Process for Site Improvement

The perlmonks site, and perl itself, seems to follow the lazy developer vein. It's not bad as a general practice, but not it's horrid as an absolute one.

1) If you want something badly, do it yourself. Most monks, myself included, won't do anything w/o insentive.

2) perlmonk's code is in the db. read that again. there's no source repository you can download it from. Sure, they diffs are IN the db, but you can't download it and hack at it. It's a case of the tools inhibiting the developer. perl itself seems to have this problem.

Honesetly, your request will only teach you to query for pmdev status and then have to be very self motivated. There's no comradeship to help promote ideas.

You won't see shiny new ideas implemented much here, outside of modules. The effort to make things pleasant is just not there.

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Re^2: Process for Site Improvement
by ELISHEVA (Prior) on Mar 16, 2009 at 13:45 UTC
    The effort to make things pleasant is just not there.

    That is a rather blanket statement and horribly unfair to the people who are trying against all odds to make a difference. There are some real challenges here and they can't just be addressed by waving magic wands or brute force.

    Being stalled and puzzled while one tries to figure out solutions to complex problems (like a codebase infrastructure that makes integrating new developers difficult) is not at all the same thing as not caring.

    In the same vein being hesitant to contribute because you don't see where you are most needed and can make a meaningful difference isn't at all the same thing as not wanting to contribute in the first place. Hesitancy is just common sense: no one wants to spin their wheels. But it is also a solvable problem - all organizations go through phases where they are better or worse at making changes. And this one has shown, at times, extra-ordinary strength in its ability to reinvent itself (changing the experience system and monk levels comes to mind). The monastery does not lack in either brains or social skills (it has rather a lot of both). We have the capability - we just need to focus it.

    You could do a lot to help focus it, by saying specifically what specific events, history, or actions (or absence thereof) lead you to feel that the will to improve things isn't there. Your comment about what made working creatively with the code-base difficult for you to work with is constructive. What other concrete observations do you have?

    Best, beth

[reply]
Re^2: Process for Site Improvement
by jdporter (Paladin) on Mar 17, 2009 at 14:12 UTC
    There's no comradeship to help promote ideas.

    That is false.

    ... outside of modules.

    Modules? Now I have to think you just don't know what you're talking about. But I am glad that even Anonymous Monks can meaningfully participate in the discourse.

[reply]
Re^2: Process for Site Improvement
by Anonymous Monk on Mar 17, 2009 at 14:18 UTC 
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won't do anything w/o insentive. 
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