Do you have any evidence to support that notion? I find it quite the opposite. People who spent a decade being forced to use PHP know the language well, and dislike it. People who have never bothered to learn and just keep making the same mistakes over and over again defend PHP fervently, despite being almost entirely ignorant of the problems with the language.
>I'll invent a position from whole cloth then present it as a quote the parent comment to turn him into a straw man, then I'll have a debate with that straw man. Then I'll kick a puppy!
Why would you do that?
If you read my comment you'll note that I said "many hands go up" "most hands go down." I'm not saying everyone who dislikes PHP hasn't used it, merely that there's a large number of people here who dogpile on it for no reason other than "it's popular to do so" or "I'm half way thru _why's Poignant Guide so I'm pretty sure that qualifies me to comment on every programming language and why it isn't as good as ruby."
Please note that: a) I use PHP but I'm not a slob, I critique bad PHP freely[0] and b) people are coming out of the woodwork saying 'yeah I don't use PHP but I downvoted it'[1] so I think it's fair to say my original assertion (many people are "disliking" PHP from an uninformed position, merely because it's popular) stands.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6510051 < note how this thread goes from (in my opinion) a salient, relevant discussion of the codebase and how to improve it to "durr php suxx" circle jerk in approximately 2 comments.
EDIT: trigger warning- more sarcasm | Here are some more thoughtful, informed, salient comments about PHP that really add to the discussion and aren't just "lol php suxx amirite??":
2) if you'd said "many" instead of "most" your later points would hold better. What basis, aside from hopefulness, do you have for assuming that most people who have a bias against php haven't used it? After HTML, CSS, and JavaScript it is the most ubiquitous language for the web: ergo, most web people have probably had exposure to it.
My bias: I hate php. I've deployed a few dozen sites that use it over the years.
You didn't address my comment at all. You are making the baseless claim that most criticism of PHP is out of ignorance. I am countering your baseless claim with a baseless claim of my own: that most defense of PHP is out of ignorance, and most criticism is out of knowledge. Linking to you whining about people disliking PHP does not support your claim.
dewd, did you read anything? "most criticism of PHP is out of ignorance" nope, I suggested that many of the people who "hate php" on this site (i.e. where this poll is taking place) haven't used it. If you want to claim it's not popular to bash PHP on this site, talk to me when your head is back in the sunshine.
"Linking to you whining about people disliking PHP does not support your claim." What are you even talking about? I don't link to any of my own whining. I linked to 1) me, CRITIQUING some poorly written PHP to show that I'm not just some clueless PHP fanboy 2) someone in this very thread explicitly confirming my suspicion- they are downvoting PHP w/o ever having used it even one time, but because, quote, "I read an article" and 3) several examples of vapid, worthless comments bashing PHP for no reason other than to say "PHP sux high five!!" These are evidence of the trend towards mindless PHP hate on HN that you seem... not to recognize.
If you want to criticize PHP, by all means, criticize it! Talk about a feature you don't like or a bad experience you had, but "fuck php amirite??" circle jerk is pointless & stems from the cool-bros-hate-php culture, not from an informed position. If you're informed about why php sucks, share your information! If you have nothing to share, why clutter up the thread everyone will "phpsuxlol" bullshit?
"I am countering your baseless claim with a baseless claim of my own" ok....
>"most criticism of PHP is out of ignorance" nope, I suggested that many of the people who "hate php"
Yes, you said most. Go read your post again, or your response where you quoted yourself.
>but "fuck php amirite??" circle jerk is pointless & stems from the cool-bros-hate-php culture, not from an informed position
It is also nonexistent, so not much of a concern to anyone but you.
>If you have nothing to share, why clutter up the thread everyone will "phpsuxlol" bullshit?
Where did I do that again? You seem to be forgetting that you started this discussion, by preemptively calling out nonexistent "PHP haters" as ignorant.
Do you have any evidence to support that notion? I find it quite the opposite. People who spent a decade being forced to use PHP know the language well, and dislike it. People who have never bothered to learn and just keep making the same mistakes over and over again defend PHP fervently, despite being almost entirely ignorant of the problems with the language.