that's been a combination of my experiences with pretty much every other tech as well.
I've done php, java, perl, python, javascript ruby, asp and poked at a small cold fusion project over the last 20+ years. Every one of those had baffling parts which, after some time, and after reviewing it with people far more proficient than me in that target stack, I learned it was "crap code". "Yeah, they didn't know what they were doing." "That's n00b code." "Garbage. How did they get hired?"
I've also seen some good 'clean' projects in some languages, but not as many. I guess I can not, for the life of me, figure out how someone looks at some bad PHP projects and writes off the entire language, yet if I do the about Python, for example, I'm somehow close-minded, or a n00b, or... "just not ready for it yet" or... something. Have had conversations like this at tech conferences (back when those were a thing!). Seems like projection going on, but maybe there's something more.
FWIW, it's often not specifically the language itself which is a stumbling block, but the entire ecosystem around a stack. If there's not a good, usable patterns and tools for easy testing, or integration between FE/BE, etc, I don't care how "tight" or "sleek" or "elegant" a specific language is; it's going to be a pain to deliver a full project with.
And since I care about that and there were alternatives - yes, I just wrote off PHP entirely ;)
After you've worked with perl for years, none of those sorts of criticisms against PHP seem to hold any water with me. ;)
Most likely, but Hackers Spirit for me is also finding the right tool, for the right job.
Meaning for me, I allmost use vanilla JS and html only, because that way everything is under my control behaving exactly like I want it.
But I clearly see, that other people need a more convienient tool, to enable them to get things done, with their skillset. Why should I hate that?
Oh, but about hate - I really do hate PHP, so I could probably chime in with the choir.
But I know my hate comes from having to take over a half finished webproject, long ago, with badly written PHP and I was new to it. I never touched PHP ever since ... but I am aware, that other people get stuff done with it, so good for them.