Part of the problem is that one-off scripts are different than applications. One off scripts don't need to be big or particularly maintainable, but the problem

Part of the problem is that one-off scripts are different than applications. One off scripts don't need to be big or particularly maintainable, but the problem is people get in the habit of writing Perl that way. So it's complicated. Also keep in mind that a lot of CPAN modules out there began back in the 1990's and are still being developed today. I know. I am now a maintainer of several, and the code isn't often that pretty. But this is the benefit of being encouraged to think about elegance of code: one improves. But one can write amazingly beautiful, clear, and elegant Perl or one can write rubbish (after all good Perl doesn't take much work to maintain). Most of my work is either maintaining rubbish or (I hope) writing nice, maintainable code.