The root cause problem is simple: although PerlMonks now attempts to use SSL, as most other sites do the certificate that it is now presenting is not valid.

Wrong. PerlMonks uses SSL (doesn't "attempt"), and the site is served by three servers.

qwurx [shmem] ~> host perlmonks.org
perlmonks.org has address 66.39.54.27
perlmonks.org has address 209.197.123.153
perlmonks.org has address 216.92.34.251
[download]

One of them has a wrong certificate, the one for *.pairsite.com

• 209.197.123.153 => subject=/C=US/postalCode=15203/ST=Pennsylvania/L=Pittsburgh/street=Suite 510/street=2403 Sidney Street/O=pair Networks, Inc./OU=Provided by pair Networks/OU=PairWildcardSSL $250,000/CN=*.pairsite.com

The other two have the right one for perlmonks.org

• 66.39.54.27 => subject=/CN=perlmonks.org
• 216.92.34.251 => subject=/CN=perlmonks.org

valid also for the tld aliases (.net, .com) and the prefix "www.", to wit:

• DNS Name: css.perlmonks.com
• DNS Name: css.perlmonks.net
• DNS Name: css.perlmonks.org
• DNS Name: perlmonks.com
• DNS Name: perlmonks.net
• DNS Name: perlmonks.org
• DNS Name: www.perlmonks.com
• DNS Name: www.perlmonks.net
• DNS Name: www.perlmonks.org

Since all three servers serve the site in load-balancing or round-robin fashion, some queries will get the wrong certificate.

Had you read the whole thread, there would have been no need to correct you, again.