Perl is dead.
Or at least, Perl.com is dead.
Or at least, the Columns section of Perl.com is dead.
The last P6 Digest was recorded on March 12.
The last P5 Digest was recorded on October 21, 2001.
The last entry in "Off the Wall" was Larry's State of the Onion 5, from last July. And the last Apocalypse mentioned was #2.
The latest Success Story (in the Columns section) is from last August. (Yes, there are more recent Success Stories, but apparently they exist only in Betsy's blog.)
Stale website.
As if there weren't already good reasons not to bother with Perl.com.
Perl.com is a crock.
Re:Perl.com is not the Perl language
jdporter on 2002-06-03T17:17:10
Geez, Casey, I think you're being just a little too defensive of Perl (the language).
I used a provocative subject just to bring the problems at Perl.com to readers' attention. I have absolutely no dead beef with Perl (the language). You know me! I'm a Perl fanatic. I just wish Perl's highest-profile web site didn't suck so bad.
Re:Perl.com is not the Perl language
Simon on 2002-06-18T12:38:22
I used a provocative subject just to bring the problems at Perl.com to readers' attention.Why not bring them to my attention a little more directly, then I can do something about them? You could have dropped me an email, for instance, instead of hoping I'd chance across your journal entry.
We've got columns coming from a couple of writers, and I'm soon going part-time to devote more time to writing on perl.com. If you'd like to write a P5P or P6 digest column, please let me know. Hopefully we can get these started again.
Fixing perl.com
jdporter on 2002-06-18T14:27:12
Are you responsible for making the whole site work? It's not just the p5p/p6 columns; there seem to be buboes of staleness peppered around the site, e.g. the Off The Wall stuff, as I mentioned.
There's another symptom, I'm wondering if you've seen. On use.perl, there's the p5p news box, which just contains links to the internals of the p5p digest page on perl.com. You'll notice that the current headlines, such as "5.7.2 is out", are wrong. I'm supposing that use.perl is getting that stuff via an rdf feed. If so, then the rdf feed is out of sync (and in fact more current) than what is getting posted on the www.
Thanks, I really do appreciate all your effort.
Re:Fixing perl.com
Simon on 2002-06-19T10:52:06
Are you responsible for making the whole site work?
No; I'm responsible for commissioning and editing content for it.It's not just the p5p/p6 columns;
The problem with these is that, while everyone is interested in reading them, nobody is interested in writing them. Hence, they don't get written. It's a community thing; if you want the community to improve, improve it.there seem to be buboes of staleness peppered around the site, e.g. the Off The Wall stuff, as I mentioned.
Yep. I'm not denying we need spring cleaning. I just have no time. The good news is that in two to three weeks, I'll be working on perl.com for at least half my week. I might even have time to write the summaries.Thanks, I really do appreciate all your effort.
No, John, you don't. If you did, you won't bitch about it so vehemently.Re:Fixing perl.com
jdporter on 2002-06-19T11:19:08
I am such an idiot. The problem I talked about -- where the p5p news box on use.perl seems to indicate newer p5p column content than can actually be found on perl.com -- is completely not. It's actually several installments behind, pointing to July of last year. I guess I can't read dates. Sorry, everyone.
Re:perl.com
jdporter on 2002-06-03T17:14:05
If that's your euphemism for "editorial apathy", then I guess I have to agree with you.:-)
"editorial apathy"
Simon on 2002-06-18T12:42:41
Hi John. I'd like an apology.Re:"editorial apathy"
jdporter on 2002-06-18T14:36:19
Well, "apathy" is probably not the most accurate word I could have chosen. To paraphrase the old yarn, "Never ascribe to apathy what can be reasonably accounted for by lack of time (or other resources)."
So, in consideration of the fact that you do indeed care a great deal about the health of the perl community, I apologize.
While we're on the subject... maybe some day you'll feel like apologizing to me for the harsh things you said which induced me to bail on the p6 project.
All of which makes me wonder... paradigmatically, slash journals probably aren't an appropriate substitute for email.:-)
Re:"editorial apathy"
jdavidb on 2002-06-18T15:03:53
I bailed on p6 because it was like trying to drink from a firehouse. The only person who made harsh comments to me was Tom Christiansen. That's par for the course, and besides, everything he told me was right, anyway. I don't remember any other particular harshness, although there were some arguments that should never have happened. I CERTAINLY don't recall any from Simon.
"Perl.com is stale" is a good observation that deserves to be made (although I disagree). "Perl.com is a crock" is just being mean for the purpose of being mean. Why is it hackers can't say anything without exaggerating to the point of harshness?
