frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Perl articles are being memory wiped from Wikipedia

https://old.reddit.com/r/perl/comments/1psj81k/perlmonks_is_being_memory_wiped_on_https_and/
23•leejo•2h ago

Comments

Philpax•1h ago
The reasons for deletion don't seem that outlandish to me. I'd rather not see them deleted, but I also don't think this outcome is that surprising, nor would I describe it as a "memory wipe."
leejo•1h ago
The CPAN page on Wikipedia has existed for 24 years, has dozens of references, yet an editor nominated it for deletion - I can't help but feel that as hostile. Fortunately this one has been voted "keep", but still...
pella•1h ago
The new rule of notability: if it’s no longer in Google’s index, it basically doesn't meet Wikipedia's notability criteria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Deletion...

"From a Google search, I wasn’t able to find" appears multiple times on that page alone.

jorams•1h ago
The relevant part is before that:

> This article is exclusively sourced on primary sources.

The Google search is the nominator looking for an alternative source that could make it notable, something earlier editors failed to establish.

snvzz•2m ago
In short, Google decides what stays in Wikipedia.

Neat. Not.

cedilla•1h ago
I'll never understand the amount of vitriol Wikipedia volunteers must receive. Why is the deletion (or even deletion proposal) regarded as such a heinous act that people feel the need to attack and bully others?

I find this kind of behaviour and rethoric wholly unacceptable.

pella•1h ago
Consider the other perspective: how should Perl programmers feel when Google's index becomes the main criterion for what is considered important or not? This creates a circular dependency that can erase genuine technical contributions from the historical record.
leejo•57m ago
> Why is the deletion (or even deletion proposal) regarded as such a heinous act that people feel the need to attack and bully others?

FWIW I don't see this as an attack (with, perhaps, the exception of a couple of comments in the linked thread) and posted the link to the reddit thread as I see it more as an interesting observation around the myriad issues facing "legacy" languages and communities. To wit:

* Google appears to be canon for finding secondary sources, according to the various arguments in the deletion proposals, yet we're all aware of how abysmal Google's search has been for a while now.

* What's the future of this policy given the fractured nature of the web these days, walled gardens, and now LLMs?

* An article's history appears to be irrelevant in the deletion discussion: the CPAN page (now kept) had 24 years of history on Wikipedia, with dozens of sources, yet was nominated for deletion.

* Link rot is pervasive, we all knew this, but just how much of Wikipedia is being held up by the waybackmachine?

* Doesn't this become a negative feedback cycle? Few sources exist, therefore we remove sources, therefore fewer sources exist.

pwdisswordfishy•27m ago
> Google appears to be canon for finding secondary sources, according to the various arguments in the deletion proposals, yet we're all aware of how abysmal Google's search has been for a while now.

Nobody is forcing you to use Google. If you can provide an acceptable source without the help of Google, go ahead. But the burden of proof is on the one who claims sources exist.

> An article's history appears to be irrelevant in the deletion discussion: the CPAN page (now kept) had 24 years of history on Wikipedia, with dozens of sources, yet was nominated for deletion.

Such is life when anyone can nominate anything at any moment... and when many articles that should have never been submitted in the first place slip through cracks of haphazard volunteer quality control. (Stack Overflow also suffers from the latter.)

The sources is the only part that matters. And they sufficed to keep the CPAN article on site, so the system works.

> Doesn't this become a negative feedback cycle? Few sources exist, therefore we remove sources, therefore fewer sources exist.

It was wrong to submit the article without sourcing in the first place. Circular sourcing is not allowed.

DrScientist•1h ago
Wikipedia has a page for an Egyptian King that ruled for perhaps only 10 years 5000 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anedjib

Why is that still relevant?

Or to put it another way when does the contemporary move into interesting history?

pwdisswordfishy•1h ago
The deletion proposals do not mention "interesting" anywhere.
TZubiri•58m ago
Correct, the cited factor is lack of significant coverage.
EdwardDiego•38m ago
When did the Perl Monks run a kingdom?

Apples and oranges.

mrjay42•4m ago
So this is about PerlMonks, which I knew nothing about until today.

I searched it, the site is down The Wikipedia article is deleted

This is pure loss of information somehow.

I and a lot of other people in the future will never know what "perlmonks" is/are, how important it was?, etc. etc.

The logic seems to be: if tomorrow Stack Exchange disappears, the Wikipedia article will be deleted? If yes, then that makes zero sense.

If You Don't Design Your Career, Someone Else Will

https://gregmckeown.com/if-you-dont-design-your-career-someone-else-will/
48•TheAlchemist•1h ago•26 comments

The ancient monuments saluting the winter solstice

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20251219-the-ancient-monuments-saluting-the-winter-solstice
39•1659447091•2h ago•20 comments

A guide to local coding models

https://www.aiforswes.com/p/you-dont-need-to-spend-100mo-on-claude
442•mpweiher•14h ago•238 comments

Programming languages used for music

https://timthompson.com/plum/cgi/showlist.cgi?sort=name&concise=yes
55•ofalkaed•1d ago•13 comments

Well Being in Times of Algorithms

https://www.ssp.sh/blog/well-being-algorithms/
14•articsputnik•1h ago•5 comments

Deliberate Internet Shutdowns

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/12/deliberate-internet-shutdowns.html
200•WaitWaitWha•3d ago•83 comments

How I protect my Forgejo instance from AI web crawlers

https://her.esy.fun/posts/0031-how-i-protect-my-forgejo-instance-from-ai-web-crawlers/index.html
44•todsacerdoti•20h ago•30 comments

Build Android apps using Rust and Iced

https://github.com/ibaryshnikov/android-iced-example
97•rekireki•9h ago•31 comments

Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025

https://hackernews-readings-613604506318.us-west1.run.app
475•seinvak•19h ago•171 comments

I'm just having fun

https://jyn.dev/i-m-just-having-fun/
375•lemper•6d ago•160 comments

Webb observes exoplanet that may have an exotic helium and carbon atmosphere

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-observes-exoplanet-whose-composition-defies-exp...
68•taubek•2d ago•17 comments

Disney Imagineering Debuts Next-Generation Robotic Character, Olaf

https://disneyparksblog.com/disney-experiences/robotic-olaf-marks-new-era-of-disney-innovation/
200•ChrisArchitect•13h ago•79 comments

Engineering dogmas it's time to retire

https://newsletter.manager.dev/p/5-engineering-dogmas-its-time-to
26•flail•3d ago•38 comments

Kernighan's Lever

https://linusakesson.net/programming/kernighans-lever/index.php
72•xk3•2d ago•29 comments

Aliasing

https://xania.org/202512/15-aliasing-in-general
44•ibobev•6d ago•7 comments

Cartoon Network channel errors (1995 – 2025)

https://cnas.fandom.com/wiki/Channel_Errors
13•Pikamander2•2h ago•3 comments

A Guide to Magnetizing N48 Magnets in Ansys Maxwell

https://blog.ozeninc.com/resources/from-datasheet-to-demagnetization-a-guide-to-magnetizing-n48-m...
40•peter_d_sherman•5d ago•3 comments

Functional Flocking Quadtree in ClojureScript

https://www.lbjgruppen.com/en/posts/flocking-quadtrees
53•lbj•6d ago•3 comments

Show HN: Backlog – a public repository of real work problems

https://www.worldsbacklog.com/
8•anticlickwise•3h ago•2 comments

CO2 batteries that store grid energy take off globally

https://spectrum.ieee.org/co2-battery-energy-storage
258•rbanffy•20h ago•220 comments

Rue: Higher level than Rust, lower level than Go

https://rue-lang.dev/
156•ingve•14h ago•127 comments

More on whether useful quantum computing is “imminent”

https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=9425
92•A_D_E_P_T•14h ago•76 comments

ONNX Runtime and CoreML May Silently Convert Your Model to FP16

https://ym2132.github.io/ONNX_MLProgram_NN_exploration
72•Two_hands•11h ago•15 comments

Lightning: Real-time editing for tiled map data

https://felt.com/blog/lightning-tiles
12•hinting•5d ago•3 comments

Making the most of bit arrays in Gleam

https://gearsco.de/blog/bit-array-syntax/
27•crowdhailer•3d ago•1 comments

Show HN: Rust/WASM lighting data toolkit – parses legacy formats, generates SVGs

https://eulumdat.icu
32•holg•14h ago•0 comments

I program on the subway

https://www.scd31.com/posts/programming-on-the-subway
230•evankhoury•5d ago•159 comments

Show HN: WalletWallet – create Apple passes from anything

https://walletwallet.alen.ro/
389•alentodorov•19h ago•105 comments

Cursed circuits #3: true mathematics

https://lcamtuf.substack.com/p/cursed-circuits-3-true-mathematics
24•zdw•7h ago•3 comments

QBasic64 Phoenix 4.3.0 Released

https://qb64phoenix.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4244
37•jandeboevrie•4h ago•5 comments