-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

=pod

The newest and hippest Internet meme seems to be blogging about how
"this is my Perl blog".  Apparently if we all do that, people will
magically decide to start using Perl.  

Do I detect a note of sarcasm in my voice?  Yes.

If we want Perl to be more visible on Google and the larger
programming community, we have to do a bit of reality distortion.  The
reality of Perl is that there are millions of silent users; they read
the books, they use CPAN modules... but then they go home and think
about something other than programming.  The number of people actively
involved in the Perl community is something like 100.  100 people on
the Internet is nothing, that's why we don't show up.  (Even if you
include all the people that go to YAPC, it's still less than 1500
people.  That's not exactly a huge community.)

But, we can fix this by being a little noisier.  So, the next time you
release a CPAN module, write up a quick example and put it on your
blog.  Don't let it silently decay in your CPAN directory.  Talk about
it.  Get people excited about it.  Get people contributing to it!
That's what will attract people to the community.  When there are just
some libraries on a site with bluish text and some faces they've never
seen, nobody's excited.  When real people start sharing their
excitement, it spreads -- everyone wants in on the action.

Even if you're not a CPAN author, you can still talk about Perl.  The
next time you spend hours pulling your hair out over something, talk
about it.  Perl sucks.  Tell people how to get around that suckage.
(BTW, don't be offended by that.  There are no programming languages
that don't suck.  They are all horrible in their own ways.  Don't try
to deny it.)  Of course, the next time you do something cool, tell us
about it.

Basically, instead of not talking about Perl, talk about Perl.

One thing I recommend staying away from, though, is "why Perl is
better than $foo".  I have tried this, and it just makes people mad.
I tried it with "why Perl is better than Java", and all that happened
was that the Java people demonstrated that I didn't know Java.  You
probably don't know the language you're about to bash, so shut up
about it.  Just show why Perl is good and let the reader draw his own
conclusion.  Accept the fact that not everyone wants to use Perl.
It's just a programming language; relax and let people make their own
decisions.  We all chose to use Perl, and we're all smart :) Let other
smart people decide on their own.  Let the dumb people use PHP.

Oh, one more thing.  Maybe C<use.perl> would show up in Google if it
were actually up for more than an hour a day.  (The 900KB front page
is also cute.)  Just a thought.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFIGEI32rw+dVvzZm0RAojZAJ0TzawfCgsLcoiRchyi8PP0x1YbaQCgjxmf
+kyp655ZpUJtHpQggnX6hmc=
=J6C2
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----