Was every presentation you ever went to one of quality?

I only ask, because I view articles much in the same way as anything in life - it is a person's opinion; they are not necessarily a distinguished individual in that field, they are merely presenting something for fame, credit, or money.

I've learnt a lot from magazines, particularly in my teenage years when I was thirsty to learn anything I could about programming and computers; these days I rarely, if ever, buy magazines - there's plenty of information to be had from open source code, online manuals, and news articles (and PerlMonks of course!).

As some others have commented, I don't believe it is necessarily a crime to present bad quality source; an individual who is interested enough will learn from experience why certain coding styles (such as use strict) are a good idea. I know I've learnt a lot of programming lessons the hard way.