(This is in response to Moderation of Open Source projects.)

A lot of people coming into the Perl community (or the wider OSS one) are a little taken aback at how the people who write the software and "run the show" (if that is even possible) behave. Our social mores, on the surface, are odd and weird. You probably get rubbed the wrong way about something. Someone is probably extremely rude to you. Here's one explanation as to why.

  1. Most of us are geeks because, for the most part, we never fit into the "in crowd." In other words, most of us don't have easy social graces to begin with.
  2. Most of us, particularly those who write seriously good software, are geniuses. Literally, have the IQ to be rated "genius" (which, for those who care, is generally about 145-150, depending on the test). Those people know they are smarter than 99% of the world and, frankly, often have little patience for people who just "don't get it." This also goes for interactions with people they acknowledge to be on par with them.
  3. Given 1. and 2., if you're talking with one of these people and (from their perspective) you're being a git about something, you're going to receive the cluebat upside the head. Usually, it's going to be gently. Sometimes, it's not.
And, please please remember this - OSS developers aren't in it for the fame. We're in it cause we are freaks who have to create. 100 years ago, we were the guys inventing ham radios. 200 years ago, we were Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. We aren't like everyone else.
My criteria for good software:
  1. Does it work?
  2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?

In reply to Please remember that geeks have their own social mores. by dragonchild

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