All I can figure is that a lot of people, especially those willing to put up with PHP's warts in the first place, look at a giant crusty knot and can only be impressed with its size and seek to emulate its design. If, upon seeing the huge crusty knot, you puke in your mouth a little and say "are you sure you needed a knot at all" they briefly look at you funny before carrying on to make bigger and bigger knot composition frameworks to blather about on their blogs where they have a picture of their head in a little circle, because that was trendy among the so-called artisans for a time.