[Pewpewarrows]

It's no use debating with someone that absolutely refuses to admit the possibility that their tools are sub-par.

If your feelings get hurt: good. Maybe if it happens enough times you'll move on to better tools and technologies, you'll have an easier time building better products, and your customers will be more happy.

[ivyirwin]

I'm shocked at the disdain people on HN have for certain tools. I was always taught that it's not the tool, it's how you use it. I think Panic is a perfect example of that axiom. Their website (at least the older versions) has been emulated by web developers many times over. They were one of the first sites I know that enabled drag and drop icons to download files; they nailed scrolling content with tab browsing, and everyone quickly copied it. I assume they use their own tools, so while it may not sound like a cutting edge tool, they are certainly able to produce cutting edge results.

[chrisrogers]

PHP is like the old rusting hand saw to Python/Ruby/etc's laser-guided table saw.

Sure, we're all cutting wood. But some of us are doing it with faster and safer tools. Maybe the consumer doesn't notice the difference, but the carpenter sure as hell does.

[ChrisLTD]

Building on the LAMP stack is still worthwhile when you don't have the time or money to devote to sysadmin tasks.

I use Rails, Django, raw PHP, whatever makes the most sense for the job at hand.