For mart and everyone else, $@ is populated by eval. So if an error occurs the error message is there. So what he describes would be like this:

sub check {
my $ip = shift;
eval{ &lib::function($ip) };
return !$@;
}

So if $@ is null it returns true. Otherwise false since ! is a condition operator. And they can do false by calling "die" in that lib::function. But yes, that is rather silly. I'm hoping they couldn't control the other code for some reason. :)

It also seems to make people load frameworks rather than learn the language. I've fixed a few libraries I found that were using Moose by removing the framework and replacing it with 30 lines of OO code. They loaded another 35 files just to avoid a couple ISA statements and do some input validation. If people bothered to learn the language they could make their code even faster and cleaner. This problem is even worse in PHP. And java seems to require every project to write their own. :/

I'm sure CSI could show us what was there... they can even show us encrypted IPs! ENHANCE!!

It's easy to infer data for the most part. The biggest challenge I see to your requirement for keys is the lack of interesting searches. If you encrypt everything and require keys then people won't be able to search to see if they have the same hobbies as you. What you suggest isn't much of a social site but more of a private BBS almost. Only a few can dial-in and the rest of the world knows nothing of the content.

I've got a HostGator, dedicated server in Germany and a 1and1 developer account (for a few years now). I'm in the process of moving them all into VPS at slicehost.com. You can start the slices out cheap and work your way up to multiple slices with backnet and public interfaces. So if you need to grow you can do a load balancer on your primary IP and then have other slices doing the work. Their admin tools are pretty easy to deal with too. This option is best if you aren't afraid to administrate your own box though. They have Chat support, forums, articles etc to help people out who are fairly new to system administration with optional backup for your slices.

Glad someone else beat me to suggesting that one. Nothing like scrolling ascii porn to distract people. :)