I tried posting this to perl.beginners on usenet but I guess it must be too basic as the mods don't seem to be adding it

Try signing up for the perl "beginners" mailing list with the email address you are using in your nntp client. Then you should be able to post.

The nntp server and the mailing lists are connected by Ask's colobus setup.

Of course you're welcome to post here as often as you like, too :0)

Hope this helps,