Not the best example, considering that PHP has done its time as whipping boy. I've never been a PHP dev and I did my share of trash-talk against PHP instead of learning about the aspects that I could learn from.

My problem isn't that it's "unacceptable" to point out issues - it's that people aren't doing so CONSTRUCTIVELY. Instead, it's about finding the lesser social class to dump on freely.

For example - I have serious concerns/doubts about typescript and how it props up a tool-enhanced crutch for programming-as-communication that ultimately leads to lower-quality code. You would likely disagree and would raise your concerns about JS without TS. We can have a lovely conversation comparing points and, while it's probable neither of us is convinced by the other, we both walk away with a better understanding of the perspectives of others and impacts of code choices.

OR we could imply that JS isn't a "proper" programming language, and thereby JS devs aren't "proper" programmers and we can pat them on the head and tell them to run along and play.

Back when I was doing a lot of Perl dev (before my Java days) I noticed that the weaker Perl devs would hate-on Python (and the reverse), while the stronger Perl/Python devs would hang out with the stronger Python/Perl and compare notes. It took me a while to figure out why that made sense. The two communities had a lot of explicitly different philosophies, yet were really able to learn from one another and occasionally both languages improved as a result.

If JS isn't someone's preferred approach, that's fine...but that doesn't mean they are "lesser". They're _different_, just like different problem domains are _different_. That doesn't make them immune from criticism either, but I'm far more interested in those looking to broaden their views rather than broaden the reach of their current viewpoint.