On May 3, 2012, at 11:01 AM, Shawn H Corey wrote: > On 12-05-03 09:55 AM, John SJ Anderson wrote: >> One situation I really want to avoid with perl-beginners is having the >> "old hands" here send people to other lists, only to have the people >> on those other lists say "we don't have time to hold your hand, maybe >> you should ask on perl-beginners instead", so as long as something is >> being asked by a genuine beginner, I think it's fair game. (And of >> course, people are always free to not answer a question, or even to >> not read a particular thread. Nobody_has_ to be here.) > > Then perhaps, we should split the list: one for those learning Perl and one > for general Perl and CPAN questions. Somehow, when I see the word beginner, I > don't think that the list will answer any question about any module in CPAN; > CPAN is just too big for that. >
Or you could exercise that whole "freedom to not answer questions" thing I mentioned. I didn't say the list was for "general Perl and CPAN questions". It is for people who are beginning to learn Perl, or some aspect of Perl. Generally speaking, people want to learn Perl so they can accomplish something, not as an end in and of itself -- so sometimes, they're going to have questions about Perl, and sometimes about a particular module. Off the top of my head, I can think of questions about Bio::Perl, Template.pm, CGI.pm, DBI ... the list is long. Let me quote from the FAQ (<http://learn.perl.org/faq/beginners.html>) > What is the list for? > > A list for beginning Perl programmers to ask questions in a friendly > atmosphere. > > What is this list not for? > • SPAM > • Homework > • Solicitation > • Things that aren't Perl related > • Monkeys > • Monkeys solicitating homework on non-Perl related SPAM. > > Are there any rules? > Yes. As with most communities, there are rules. Not many, and ones that > shouldn't need to be mentioned, but they are. > > • Be nice > • No flaming > • Have fun > > What topics are allowed on this list? > > Basically, if it has to do with Perl, then it is allowed. You can ask CGI, > networking, syntax, style, etc... types of questions. If your question has > nothing at all to do with Perl, it will likely be ignored. If it has anything > to do with Perl, it will likely be answered. The point is, if somebody wants to use Perl to do something, and they're new to Perl, this list is an appropriate place to ask about it. They may get a "go ask elsewhere" answer -- which I believe I said was a _legitimate_ reply, albeit not an encouraged one -- but they're *not* off-topic for asking. It's perl-beginners, the topic is "beginners and Perl". thanks. john. -- John SJ Anderson // geneh...@genehack.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
