I've initially learned PHP4 when PHP3 was still used. Later I learned PHP 5 which iirc was the first version which had classes. I also learned Drupal 6 and then 7.

Modern PHP code looks nothing like PHP code back then. Of course, the core syntax is mostly the same, but if you look at a framework like D6 or D7 no one would do anything even remotely like this today. PHP security has completely changed since then as well.

What criticism?

That's an excellent point: you described a difference, which is in fact real. Any perceived criticism is just that: a perception.

I thought that Java was the Java of the web world.

Java is the Java of the Java world.

I don't understand the downvotes at all. Yes, PHP 8 is different from, let's say PHP 5, but that doesn't mean knowing PHP 5 doesn't help with writing good PHP 8. Same with Python 2 vs 3.

Hmm no, not at all. My first job in 2002-2004 was using PHP4. I barely used classes (and if I did they were just my code, not from the library because I didn't need anything from PEAR) and used the original MySQL client API. Almost nothing of what I used back then would be useful today. PHP4 vs PHP8 is almost more different than Python 2 to Python 3.

Nonsense. +95% of Python 2 knowledge is transferable to Python 3. Same for PHP 4 to PHP 8.

I agree with your point, but your first word may get you many a downvote; I would remove the "nonsense" word to increase the penetration :).