There is another explanation: It's a fact that Carl is part of a
generation of public school children who were subjected to all sorts
of ridiculous bullshit, such as "social promotion" and "no child left
behind" - all while educational budgets were dwindling like deflated
balloons and quality teachers, unable to make ends meet on a teacher's
salary, bailed out of the public school system en masse.

Think about it: if you spent the first 18 years of your life turning
in half-assed work and getting "A+! Nice work!!" written on it by the
teacher, how would you ever know that everything you ever did was
mired in mediocrity? It's entirely possible that Carl truly believes
that he is doing top-notch work! After all, back in high school, Carl
did a web site that wasn't even a tenth as good as calrog.com, and he
got an "A" on that project. In his deluded mind, calrog.com must be
worth a "Super-A" grade, and all those "competitors" who say it sucks
are just jealous.

I'm sure the educators who decided it was a good idea to blow sunshine
up the a.ses of an entire generation of America's schoolchildren had
good intentions, and maybe it was helpful to some of the kids, but in
cases like Carl and Erika the strategy has backfired horribly. Their
education has left them with no ability to judge good work from bad,
because nobody has ever told them what "bad" is... Until now.

Does anyone want to try and poke holes in my theory? :)

Counties in most New England states, particularly in southern New England,
are more or less just rubber stamps.  The power that the counties held have
since been transferred over to towns or cities.