but i am concerned about others who read your posts and i want to make
sure they don't follow your bad lead.
As a long time ghost of this group I'll take this as an invitation to weigh
in.
Any one who reads this group with any regularity knows who the leaders are.
I recognize the credentials of the knowledgeable individuals who form the
core of this group. More, I recognize the style of answers so well that I
can most often guess the author of the response without reading the
signature. While these answers vary in tone, some of the most terse offer
the best, clearest, most concise of answers. I will not be misled by a one
time poster who disregards the most common rules of etiquette established in
this group. While I appreciate your attempt to protect me, I find it
somewhat patronizing that you think me so dull I cannot do this for myself.
Is it your contention that because I don't know Perl my judgment must be
impaired? I assure you it is not.
As a matter of fact, I see valid points in the OPs argument. Because a
module is available to do a task, should the knowledge of how to do without
be lost? Too often I see 'leaders' inferring there is no good reason to
're-invent the wheel' and I disagree. Unless you originally invented the
wheel, there is every good reason to study the concept, familiarize yourself
with the capabilities of the principle, and to move beyond the foundation of
knowledge gained in this manner. Liken a module to a calculator in that both
are a device for automating some function. Do you advise that none should
learn to add? Surely you see the value of learning addition in spite of the
errors that will undoubtedly be made. Of course the speed and accuracy of
the calculator should be touted, but so should the value of experimenting
for the sake of knowledge. Methods, advantages, and limitations should be
discussed freely.
I admit I have little to contribute here, Perl is an interest to me, but not
a specialty. I read most every post, learn what I can, but (with rare
exception) refrain from posting- I am intimidated by the tone of this group.
I find the rules of conduct too strict to be comfortable, too arbitrary to
be intuitive, and too indiscriminately applied to be confident that what is
a carefully researched, thought out, and worded inquiry (at least at my
level of understanding) will be met with any level of benevolence. I have
read, in previous responses to this complaint, the assertion that this is
not a help desk- that argument was (in at least two cases) followed only a
sentence later by 'If you want our help you'll...' (note that the poster
speaks for the group, and take my assurance this was not argued). I have
also read that posts are only considered invitations to discuss a topic and
that any help received is incidental to the discussion. I find this
contradictory, especially when follow-ups are interspersed with responses
that counterpoint the original post sentence by sentence. Even after years
of ghosting this group I am unable find consistency in some very common
behaviors here.
Before offering justification, consider how many posts have been answered by
the terse comment: "And your Perl question is?" At the time of my
(admittedly OT) contribution not a single complaint has been raised in a
thread of some 20+ posts.
Most importantly: do not take my comments as critique, nor as an address to
any particular individual. I did not found this group nor do I expect that
it should run, in any sense, for my benefit. There is a huge amount of
knowledge here and I consider it a great privilege to gain what I do from
the professionals who offer their time on this public form. Still this is a
/public/ forum and, as such, open to rebuttal when my interests are
considered- even indirectly.
Mark
Just another carpenter.
