in reply to GoodBye :-)

You can't run from your past, you simply look silly and juvenile even trying.

I heard a quote once that always moves me along.
"The saddest day is the day you realize you are the best you will ever be."

So I would hope that at a young age you look back at your postings from no so long ago and say "Whoa, what the heck what I thinking?!", because if you didn't you wouldn't have learned a thing. It is similar to looking back at your code just a year old and saying, "Way did I make that choice?!".

I think this goodbye post was mostly looking for attention and hoping that the community would come begging you not to leave... There are a rare few that happened for, you aren't Tilly or Abigail, I am sorry. Stick around, keep growing, keep being embarressed by stuff you posted 6 months ago, and you just might become someone like that.

Other than that, see ya its been real.

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Re: Re: GoodBye :-)
by Anonymous Monk on Jan 06, 2003 at 12:13 UTC
    So I would hope that at a young age you look back at your postings from no so long ago and say "Whoa, what the heck what I thinking?!

    Better yet, know what you were thinking at the time, and know objectively why your current actions are superior. Who knows, maybe you were right back then?

    I think this goodbye post was mostly looking for attention and hoping that the community would come begging you not to leave

    I don't think so, it seems more like he just realized it was time to move on. As for not being "Tilly or Abigail" well, that's just BS. The Perl community's (I hate that phrase) of elevating people to god-like status based on knowing regexes a little better, or posting frequently on a website (sometimes with less than helpful posts) is beyond sad. Take a careful look and you'll see that many people who you've never heard of contribute just as much (or more).

    This is not meant to single out Tilly or Abigail, who both contribute a lot, more as a response to "Perl culture's" (ugh) tendency to view prominent members.

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      This is not exclusive to the Perl community. Every community/subculture has this tendency to idolize prominent members.

      Makeshifts last the longest.

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        To an extent, yes.

        You can look at movie stars, singers, and related crud and say "See! they do it to!" You'd almost have a point, except their industry, and the IT industry (more specifically open programming) are extremely different. Their industry is looking good and being articulate, not creating intelligent solutions and contributing to a community. There are a good number of these people who do contribute, but they're rarely recognized for it.

        As for arenas similar to Perl, none I've seen come close. Guido and Matz aren't viewed in nearly the same light as Larry Wall or his underlings. You also end up with people idolized for (almost) totally useless things like obfuscation. What benefit does this possibly have? Please don't say "Learning more about the language" because there are many far, far better ways to do this. The only reason I can think of is it's some more acceptable form of "1337sp34k" designed to scare off the newbies and convince them you're better. This type of behavior should be limited to web design scum and shouldn't infect a (potentially) real language like Perl. Stick with a true meritocracy, don't bother with idolizing programming popstars.

        I think I just forgot the point to this rant, but it's probably in there somewhere.

[reply]

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