It strikes me as pretty strange, too. Yet this is a common CB reaction to mention of S::C. I've read it enough times; I felt it required an answer.

Personally, I don't find DC short on hubris. I admire the bravery of a man who says flatly, in print on paper, "Use 78-column lines." I've been in places in Cupertino where that would start a fight involving thrown bar stools. I like him even better when he backs up his flat imperatives with pages of solid reasoning.

DC takes risks; he pushes Perl to the edge. Sometimes he wins; when he does, he wins big. Occasionally, he flops, to scale. I don't see that as a problem but perhaps some do.

Certainly, I don't say everyone must use S::C. Here, I'm not even recommending it (much). It works for me (to a point); it works well enough that I'm now investing effort improving/extending it. But this node merely says, "Smart::Comments is not evil."