I can also attest to the fact that merlyn is not a haughty person. We've hung out before, with several other perlmonks, and he was pretty easy-going. That being said, when he did talk about other programmers and some of his students, I perceived a great frustration level with people who simply refuse to (or can't) pay attention.

I've personally noticed that I am getting a bit more sarcastic in some of my posts. Usually, this occurs when someone says something like "why won't my script works? It only prints 5." Then, they expect some sort of answer. I try not to be too terribly rude, but sometimes, the idiocy of some questions gets to me. I'm also getting a bit tired of "how do I tell if two variables are the same" type questions. I usually try to be helpful and answer things like that, but I can see how someone can program in a language for many, many years and get tired of basic questions being asked repeatedly.

That being said, I've also asked some pretty basic questions, so I try to be helpful. I know what it's like to be a newbie -- especially since I'm really not that far beyond it.

Here's my a way I've thought of explaining it:

Imagine that you're a math tutor. Students keep coming to you and asking they keep getting an average of 8 for the numbers 5, 7, and 13. In checking their work you discover they added wrong and you suggest they double-check their numbers. You don't give them an answer, you simply point them to an answer. After a while, you're going to get pretty tired of seeing these students adding wrong and some of the students are going to be pretty tired of you just not giving a direct answer.

Cheers,
Ovid

Update: One more thought: I've met a few monks who have been rather surprised to discover than my online persona and my real-life behavior are not necessarily synonymous. In real life, as online, I tend to be polite (and wordy), but if you get me riled up, I have a tongue that can clip a hedge.

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