Except it’s really not hard to find reliable information - it’s all right there on the Yosemite National Park website. Why even look at secondary sources when the park in charge of permits tells you exactly how to book your permit?

Like I said, I'm only just toying with the idea of doing the JMT because I don't know much about it. I wanted to read other people's experience of the trail, and that's why I started out by looking at secondary sources. Until recently, I didn't even know that you guys require permits to walk these trails. If I'd known that then I might have gone to the YNP website first, but I didn't, so I ended up with out-of-date and incorrect advice instead.
I get that this is all seems obvious to you because you're used to it, but I've never encountered a system like this before, and a lot of the terminology (through-hike, portal, trailhead, exit quota, etc) is completely foreign to me too.