Really sad to hear that. I think the opposition to the rename, probably too late, is quite surprising giving the rename didn't happen overnight. Lizmat's proposal in the Github issue was opened for the community members for quite some time and with over 350 comments, many people shared what they thought about the rename, alternative names, etc. All of this in a respectful manner with the understanding that it was a sentimental topic for some but still acknowledging that it needed to be done regardless of the name chosen. In fact, the proposed name was Camelia but ultimately Raku ended up being the popular choice. Then, the Path to Raku document was created to describe the path for rename and this needed to be approved by several reviewers for the renaming to take place. And if that wasn't enough, Larry Wall gave the green-light to the rename.
Thus, if the rename was almost unanimous and Wall himself approved it (remember Rule 1 and Rule 2 [2]), I don't understand what's all the fuss about.
> Best is to avoid such toxic communities at all.
I don't lurk the Raku Facebook group, mainly because I don't use Facebook. If that's the type of behavior exuded by the admin(s), then I wholeheartedly agree with you about being a toxic place.
That being said, I don't think the Facebook group represents the Raku community at large lest people get the wrong idea. For instance, the folks at #perl6 (and now #raku) IRC channels [1] are the nicest, most helpful, and most amiable people you could ever find in a community. People do disagree there but they do respectfully and without inviting uncivilized discourse.
[1] These IRC channels are the fastest way of getting touch with the Raku community. There are also the subreddits /r/perl6, /r/raku, and /r/rakulang. It's still unknown if /r/perl6 will restrict submissions and redirect them to either /r/raku or /r/rakulang.
[2] Rule 1: Larry is always by definition right about how Perl should behave. This means he has final veto power on the core functionality.
Rule 2: Larry is allowed to change his mind about any matter at a later date, regardless of whether he previously invoked Rule 1. Got that? Larry is always right, even when he was wrong. It's rare to see either Rule exercised, but they are often alluded to.
