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> The situations I am referring to more broadly is say, the inevitable onslaught of “PHP is hot garbage” comments on anything mentioning PHP. How does that make

> The situations I am referring to more broadly is say, the inevitable onslaught of “PHP is hot garbage” comments on anything mentioning PHP. How does that make people write PHP for a living feel? I use PHP and have for 20 years. Comments like that don't make me feel anything. Either the person making the comment has something useful to say or they don't. Calling a successful language and its ecosystem "garbage" (which I have seen plenty of times) communicates ignorance or maybe insecurity, but it doesn't affect me emotionally. I don't feel any worse about myself knowing that trolls and ignorant people frequent online forums. If someone wants to define their identity in terms of a programming language they love, or hate, they can of course go ahead and do that. I don't understand why someone would choose such a trivial thing to hang their identity on so I'm not going to let them get under my skin.

larve 4y ago
That would indeed be the ideal, but I know enough people for whom statements like these have a real impact, me included. As you pointed out, they are ignorant and insecure, and IMO stifle actual technical discourse. Their only purpose is for their author to somehow feel better at the expense of other people. Not everybody has the thick skin and confidence they belong in tech that you have, and it for sure is always nicer to have a constructive exchange than having to face adversity. I want people to be like the person that kindly pointed out SICP to me rather than someone blasting me for using global variables. The first was much more effective.
- gregjor 4y ago
  You can't control other people, you can only control how you react to them, or maybe how much interaction you have with them. You can call it a thick skin, but it comes down to evaluating criticism from other people and deciding if it means anything to you or not. Do you have any reason to take their opinion seriously? Do they direct their comments at you, personally, or just throw out stuff like "PHP sucks" to stir the pot? Of course we would live in a nicer world if no one made ignorant or mean comments but we don't live in that world so we have to adapt and decide how we respond to other people.

larve 4y ago

That would indeed be the ideal, but I know enough people for whom statements like these have a real impact, me included. As you pointed out, they are ignorant and insecure, and IMO stifle actual technical discourse. Their only purpose is for their author to somehow feel better at the expense of other people. Not everybody has the thick skin and confidence they belong in tech that you have, and it for sure is always nicer to have a constructive exchange than having to face adversity. I want people to be like the person that kindly pointed out SICP to me rather than someone blasting me for using global variables. The first was much more effective.

gregjor 4y ago
You can't control other people, you can only control how you react to them, or maybe how much interaction you have with them. You can call it a thick skin, but it comes down to evaluating criticism from other people and deciding if it means anything to you or not. Do you have any reason to take their opinion seriously? Do they direct their comments at you, personally, or just throw out stuff like "PHP sucks" to stir the pot? Of course we would live in a nicer world if no one made ignorant or mean comments but we don't live in that world so we have to adapt and decide how we respond to other people.