Re: finding perl info on google can be hard

ilikesl...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
1) The fact that you think using google to find information about Perl
is interesting. Please alow me to point out that I am using google to
read this newsgroup.

As am I. I am also using it to read various other newsgroups. Do you
suggest that discussing Google is appropriate for newsgroups about
M*A*S*H or Disney World or banking corporations? Of course not. Those
newsgroups are about their respective topics. The fact that Google
provides a tool to read those newsgroups does not make Google on-topic
for those newsgroups, any more than it makes Outlook or Thunderbird
on-topic for those newsgroups.

I also use this to search perl newsgroups. If
the perl docs were all anyone needed to learn about perl these
newsgroups wouldn't enjoy the popularity they do. Don't you agree?

Not even remotely. About 95% of the questions here could be avoided if
the poster had simply read the documentation before posting. They do
not. And therefore, they post here instead. The Perl Documentation is
the *vast majority* of what anyone *needs*. They're just not the
majority of what those people actually use.

2) I don't think that the relationship between google and perl is
off-topic.

That's okay, you're allowed to be wrong. It's a free internet,
afterall. ;-)

I am not posting about google alone. I am posting about
effectivness of a tool for finding information on the perl programming
language.

The root cause of that issue has NOTHING TO DO WITH PERL. And
everything to do with Google. Your post is not about a problem with
Perl, it is not about a program written with Perl. It is not about the
development of Perl. That Google decides to ignore most punctuation in
its searches has nothing to do with programming or developing the Perl
language.

If my post is off topic then surely any post about the
perldocs is also off topic.

Not at all. The perldocs are a standard part of the Perl distribution.
The perldocs *are* Perl. If there's a problem with the documentation,
that problem is addressed the same way a problem with the language
itself is addressed (the perlbug utility and the Perl Porters group of
developers). Google is a 100% third party entity.

If I am wrong please quote the appropriate passage in the FAQ.

That conversations about the Perldocs are on-topic?
Look in your Perl source directory. You'll (eventually) find the
documentation. It *comes with* Perl. It *is* Perl.

That postings that aren't about the Perl language are offtopic?
http://www.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc/clpmisc_guidelines.html#is_there_a_better_place_to_ask_your_question

I want to be a good forum member and would
appreciate the oppertunity to improve my netiquette.

You would do well, then, to read the Posting Guidelines I've just
pointed you to. For starters, you can fix your quoting style so that
it makese sense. Trim the post you're replying to down to the relevant
bits, and then start your reply either intersperced within the message,
or at the bottom of the message. Do not post "TOFU" (text over,
fullquote under).

Paul Lalli

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