On Perlmonks, I have long maintained that having a good focus helps maintain the culture we have. For that reason I wouldn't want to make this Everymonks. And I say this even though I've encountered situations where I want to know about something that I have nowhere good to ask and missed the Monastery as well...

On Perlmonks, I have long maintained that having a good focus helps maintain the culture we have.

Amen to that. Best signal to noise ratio I have found in a site.

And I say this even though I've encountered situations where I want to know about something that I have nowhere good to ask and missed the Monastery as well...

I hang out on a local LUG (Linux User Group). It's a friendly place. And people aren't afraid to put posts like "[OT]WinXXX blah issue: whatever: Sorry for the OT post but I know there are some very knowledgeable people here..." - and nobody minds.

But if that were to happen it would alter the experience of PM.

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This signature two errors.

"But if that were to happen it would alter the experience of PM."

Why should the experience on your local Linux User Group be any different to PM?

It has been suggested before that one method of maintaining seemly behaviour would be to limit access to the OT node to users who were logged in.

Perhaps we need a Poll.

Why would one want to go elsewhere and post when the font of knowledge is at hand, if one was only allowed to ask.

Like BrowserUk has already pointed out there is the CB albeit with restrictions, and given that you know that a specific Monk has the desired knowledge there is the Private Message method.

But I like the idea of an 'Off Topic node' where a question would be open to others suggestions I do hope others feel the same and this Off topic Node becomes a reality.

I was quite liking stackoverflow. However I made the mistake of asking a "configuration" question and got told it was not a "programming" question.

parv++ has it right: If you have a clear subject line, and prefix it with "OT:", few people are going to complain. I can't speak for others, but the times I get annoyed about OT nodes are when the subject line suggests an interesting perl question, when the body contains something completely different. It's much easier to ignore posts you don't care about or can't answer if properly labeled.

If the world were a perfect place, I'd love to off-topic nodes titled something like "OT (Windows): How to schedule a job?" or similar, so I have a reasonable chance of selecting appropriate nodes to read.

As I predicted I did not get a reply so far on that forum. In fact it has only be viewed twice. Also I managed to solve it myself by looking at the code of the offending module. Who needs documentation?

On the subject of off-topic posts, I think I would have been quite quick to vote down the post that I would have made. The "OT" prefix would not have helped as I had not realized what "OT" stood for.

I have seen questions I could answer which have laid unanswered for days.

When all the world's experts hang out here, who should answer questions on other forums? ;)

Seriously though, I think it's the critical mass effect. Only when something has reached a certain size and quality, it will attract new users and hold existing members. PM has (luckily) somehow managed to get beyond that point — which isn't all that easy to achieve.

I for one strongly disliked web forums (in general, as opposed to mailing lists) when I first came here. But despite this, I'm still here, so there must be something to it...  Hopefully, the critical mass won't get too physical and blow up one day, or become a black hole :)

I for one strongly disliked web forums (in general, as opposed to mailing lists) when I first came here.

Me, too. In fact, I still prefer active and supportive mailing lists to web forums (including perlmonks).

Unfortunately, most of the perl mailing lists to which I subscribe, can no longer be described as "active and supportive" - which is how I came to end up here. Having arrived, I find it's not as bad as I feared ... I wish I'd arrived a little earlier :-)

Cheers,
Rob

I know exactly where you are coming from, You post what you think must be a simple question (Non Perl) on another forum, only for it remain unanswered for days, or receive a totally inappropriate response.

I have long felt that the expertise and knowledge of those that frequent PM could well have answered those questions had I been able to ask them.

I have long felt that the expertise and knowledge of those that frequent PM could well have answered those questions had I been able to ask them.

Ditto! Especially of late where I've been venturing into new territory (for me) on several fronts. This last week alone I have considered posting an OT node on at least 6 occasions. On subjects ranging from "Is this the Ubuntu equivalent of a BSOD?"; to "Why does git-svn take 24 hours plus (I gave up waiting) to clone Parrot when svn checkout takes 2"33?"; to "Does gcc allow embedded assembler in 64-bit builds?"; to a bunch of questions regarding adsl profiles, DMT and router configuration.

Yes, there are other places where the questions would be on topic, but finding new ones for each type of question, and then trying to decide which of those you find is likely to give you decent answers is a frustrating and error prone process.

Especially when you know full well that there are knowledgeable and helpful monks that would both know the answers and be more than willing to supply them.

If you think a particular monk might know, you can ask them directly, but how often do we ask perlish questions here and get surprising answers from surprising quarters. In previous discussions on the possibility of an Off-topic section, the CB is often mentioned as a possibility. But besides that at any given moment probably less than 1% of regular contributors are monitoring the CB, the bigger problem is that if your question is of any complexity, it's almost impossible to ask it clearly there.

Since an OT section is both technically difficult, and unlikely to gain the approval of those that would be needed to make it happen even if it weren't, my current notion is to create an 'Off Topic' node. Just a plain ordinary node that requires no site changes, no special efforts or permissions or approval. Questions would be posted as first level responses to the top level node and answers nested below that.

Of course, the posting of such a node would probably draw the ire of the 'perl and nothing but' crowd amongst us, but I could withstand that...if there is a sufficient number who think it is a good idea?

Have at it.

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Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

"Too many [] have been sedated by an oppressive environment of political correctness and risk aversion."

Please spare (some of) us the one monster thread. I would prefer if people just prefix "OT" (or, "off topic") to the title of their posts on particular subjects.

Doesn't seem to stop anyone from posting OT questions, so go ahead

Skimming the nodes of the regulars you get a rough idea of their expertise. If you don't dare to post an OT node, you can post your question on Gavin's scratchpad and ask for help, either via the CB or private message.

If the question is not overly in depth, I find the CB a wonderful place for off-topic questions. All manner of things get discussed there: audio equipment, vacation policies, politics, pets, kids, even the weather.

On the other hand, there is off topic and then there is off topic. Posting a question about whether one prefers William Shakespeare or William Blake is a lot more off topic than questions related to strategy and management for a software related company.

The latter is probably of interest to several people here, given that at least some of us are running our own businesses or have been core members of start-up teams. Furthermore, such questions are indirectly relevant to Perl itself - especially if you are using Perl in your business. Although the focus of this site is on the technical application of Perl, Perl's long term health depends at least as much on the management skills of its proponents as it does on their technical skills.

Best, beth

"Although the focus of this site is on the technical application of Perl, Perl's long term health depends at least as much on the management skills of its proponents as it does on their technical skills."

But without a broad spectrum skill set learning development amongst users will not flourish, by allowing the influx of knowledge and experience from other users who's opinion is valued and trusted within PM can only be of benifit to Perl and the community in the long term.