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  • Tom Walkertomw@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:47 PM

    There's a ton of arrogance towards people still running PHP 7, or even PHP 5, who are statistically unlikely to update today – the best hope is probably that a web host forces it.

    I don't think this is a personal failing. It's an ecosystem one.

    PHP has been trying for years to shed its bad reputation by making big breaking changes.

    For the 'prosumer' user base it appeals to, upgrading PHP became synonymous with everything breaking.

    Now a huge chunk of the web runs on ancient PHP.

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  • Tom Walkertomw@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 5:18 PM

    Just to add to this (after some other conversations today): I get that the "just update, duh" sort of mentality is very prevalent here. And that's a good cultural norm! But it demonstrably doesn't engage with the way PHP users behave, and the huge amount of outdated PHP out there on the web. Blaming the users is not very useful.

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  • Tom Walkertomw@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 5:34 PM

    A significant percentage of websites are effectively abandoned. I am glad in many cases that they are still online. A web where abandoned sites are rapidly destroyed is not a better one.

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