Instead, we should create a more appealing design for Perlmonks.

But that's part of the problem: this PerlMonks is exceedingly crusty — which is to say, very difficult to comprehend and to modify in any major way. Do you realize - we can't even change the encoding of the delivered pages from windows-1252 to UTF-8 easily? The arterial blockages in this site are simply too numerous and too great. As I said before - this is somewhat analogous to the situation in the Perl 5 codebase, which was one of the motivations for Perl 6 being a complete rewrite (besides the fact that the language was conceived to be radically different from Perl 5).

I think the concensus is that PerlMonks could have a nicer user interface. That's why I've expended countless hours over the last few years trying to make it more stylable via CSS. You're welcome. Unfortunately, I don't know that too many people besides myself are even taking advantage of these new stylability features.

I think we also need to plug AJAX into this thing, but that's another one of those major changes that requires not only buy-in by the gods but their active involvement... and so far, they've been reluctant to support it.

Aside: I find it interesting that in the most recent thread on the subject, AJAX to reduce server load, not a single god felt motivated to weigh in. One of the things that could be "refreshed" in a New PerlMonks is the blood, or at least mindset, of the superusers.

I also came across this interesting factoid:

Pair.com does not allow "chat servers" in its terms of use.

That, in my humble opinion, is reason enough to find another hosting service.

A smart tag system is most helpful in organizing the contents.

I strongly agree. This is yet another useful modern feature which the gods have inhibited — in this case, ostensibly due to concerns over keyword spam/abuse as well as a lack of demonstrated usefulness. Despite the fact that, time and again, people point out that a functioning keyword system would make our stove-pipe "categories" (as seen in some sections such as Categorized Questions and Answers) unnecessary and obsolete, and instead would work for all sections.

Some past (sub)threads regarding the keyword/tagging question:

• perlmonks tags
• Re^2: Shut down the Snippets Section
• Re: Proposal for a Perl 6 section?
• Re^3: Quick feedback option for downvotes
• Re: Request for new Q&A category: Testing?

Don't get me wrong — I appreciate everything that the gods do to keep the site functioning. They very much set the tone for the site as a whole, through the establishment and enforcement of policies and norms. Yet I can't help but feel frustrated by the lack of participation, sometimes, and the lack of transparency.

I don't want to forget about this thread: Perlmonks and the web