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.