I think that one of the problems with CPAN is that new modules have a big disadvantage in respect to older ones.

Older modules have the best namespaces and are referenced in forums, magazines, books, etc. so people searching for something will find them first. Even PerlMonks is very conservative in that regard, because people recommends what it knows and use and for the same reasons, they tend to know old modules better.

That happens with File::Find, google for perl find and the first entries point to it, both "Learning Perl" and "The Perl Cookbook" talk about it, it's even on the core!