PBP: Too Many Posts? Feedback, please!

A commenter on another one of the PBP posts pointed requested I stop posting so often.

Rather than have a discussion there in comments where it is easy to get lost, I thought I’d start a new post and ask: Is it too many posts?  Is is useless?  Should I stop?

Is there a better way to have a discussion about something as detailed as the PBP is?

My intention is not to flood people’s RSS feeds with commentary on what is already a long book.  I backed off of daily posting because that seemed to be too many posts, too quickly.

The intention was to start discussion and get people talking.

I’ve learned that the best way to get people talking is to talk.  This is not just an attempt to make many posts on my blog, but to try and get people who don’t usually talk to come out and say something.  Several of the posts have had comments, and there has been sharing of different views on the same topic.  It seems easier to offer concrete points on each topic because the topic is limited to a narrow subject.

So, please, let me know: Should I keep posting them?  Is there a change that would make the posts better?

Suggestions are very welcome.

18 Responses to “PBP: Too Many Posts? Feedback, please!”

  1. Jeremy Leader says:

    I laughed when I saw that comment. “You’re blogging wrong!” Very silly.

    I’ll admit, I haven’t ready every single PBP post, but I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read, and it’s interesting to go back through something like that that’s been around for a while, and to see someone else’s opinions about it. There are definitely parts of PBP that are dated, and it would be good to get that news out, so people new to Perl and looking for advice don’t just assume they should take everything in the book as gospel. And it’s good for the community to reconsider our standards every so often, to make sure we aren’t just doing things because “Damien said so a decade ago”. Going through all the PBP points one by one is valuable, even if the response to many is “eh, probably still a good idea.”

  2. Dave Doyle (@meraxes) says:

    I like’em. Keep’em coming. I did this as an exercise with others at work a few years ago and it was enlightening. Glad to see you do it and enjoy reading them.

  3. gregoa says:

    I enjoy your PBP posts, please keep them coming! And I also don’t find them too frequent.

    The only change I could imagine is adding an example every now and then; a line of code is often easier to grasp than a paragraph describing it.

    Thanks for taking the time to write up this series.

    • Laufeyjarson says:

      I’ll try and add samples more often. I have considered it for several posts and didn’t think it helped clarify much. I’ll lean towards more rather than less in the future.

  4. George MacDonald says:

    I enjoy the PBP posts. I recommend posting 2-3 times a week. That gives every post at least a day to filter through the news system and start a conversation before the next one hits.

  5. Chris Fields says:

    Good constructive posts about Perl are always welcome, and these have been. If someone doesn’t want to read them there is an easy answer (ignore/delete them or mark them read).

  6. Dave Baker says:

    I like the bite-sized information format very much, even if it involves quite a few forks-full. Your commentary also is quite interesting. Thanks for all you’re doing!

  7. Lance says:

    HI, keep them coming I say. I will regularly wander over to a colleagues desk and ask what he thinks of one of your PBP posts; always starts a good discussion. :-)

  8. Gustavo Chaves says:

    Keep’em coming! I’m finding some of your posts really interesting, even though I haven’t read PBP yet (ahem).

    • Laufeyjarson says:

      I encourage you to find a copy and have a look at it. These aren’t meant to replace it, but to provide my annotations and thoughts on it. I’m being careful not to replace the book with my web pages, because I feel the book has value.

  9. Steven Haryanto says:

    I read every PBP post and enjoy them, so thank you. I didn’t read the book (or maybe I did skim it many moons ago and forgot).

  10. I think your having a separate blog post per numbered PBP is very appropriate, because each is a separate topic and you give a reasonable amount of content to each. Also you only post these every few days and so any Perl feeds such as Perl Iron Man have several other posts between each of yours. Keep up how you’ve been doing this.

  11. Andrew says:

    Keep it up, I think PBP deserves a critical look and I’ve enjoyed what you’ve done with it.

  12. Guy Chartres says:

    They are a great review of PBP, keep going. Adding an example or two and a page reference (like percritic does) would be great.

    Which reminds me: please discuss perlcritic and how to create one’s own policies at some point.

    Cheers.

    • Laufeyjarson says:

      I have avoided page numbers, so that different printings and/or different displays (kindle, etc.) won’t be confounded by them. I’m using the exact title of each section as my post titles. It should be really easy to skim the table of contents to find the page, or to search if you’ve got an on-line copy.

      If they ever do a second edition, then those numbers would be all wacky anyway.

      That idea of how to write a perlcritic policy is a good one, and I’ll keep it in mind… I have no idea how that’s done today, but it could be interesting. Or, you can beat me to it. =)

  13. Laufeyjarson says:

    Thanks for the excellent feedback, everyone! I’ll keep going as I have been then.

  14. Johnc722 says:

    There is clearly a bundle to realize about this. I suppose you made some good points in features also. bedaeebeefdk

  15. Bruce Reed says:

    No all of your postings are thought-provoking. Some of them are simply Most Obviously Correct, meaning I agree with a lot of your choices and opinions. Please do keep posting as you are!

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