I agree that blind use without understanding is not the best case, but I still believe these boilerplates are helpful. Especially if the choice is between some

I agree that blind use without understanding is not the best case, but I still believe these boilerplates are helpful. Especially if the choice is between someone copy-pasting an HTML5 boilerplate or sticking with their IDE's HTML4/XHTML1 boilerplate because they don't have the time or inclination to fully grok the quirks of using HTML5 on a production site. I finished the first iteration of a project recently, using HTML5Boilerplate merged with HTML/CSS purchased from ThemeForest. Even though I'm pretty well familiar with HTML5 and ended up pruning a bit of the boilerplate that wasn't necessary for my project, it was still a very welcome jumpstart.