Some of you will be aware that the Trongate framework recently acquired 1,000 GitHub stars. Given that we've received no help whatsoever from any popular influencers and we've been systematically ignored by the likes of PHP News, this milestone is nothing short of a miracle. I believe that Trongate is now a top ten PHP framework, if we exclude frameworks that are no longer active (such as 'Kohana'). Thank you!

The fact that over a thousand developers have considered Trongate worthy of a GitHub star tells me that there are a significant number of PHP developers out there who enjoy using the Trongate framework. Now, the time has come for myself and everyone involved in Trongate to conduct ourselves in a more professional manner befitting a framework that is now over four years old.

Until now, we've used words and phrases like 'revolutionary' and 'brave new framework' to describe Trongate. This kind of language is now being replaced with words and phrases like 'stable' and 'easy to use'. The fact of the matter is, for better or for worse, Trongate is no longer a new framework. On the contrary, it's a stable and battle-tested framework that is here to stay.

When you build a framework like Trongate that actively says 'no thanks' to the so-called 'standards', you offend a lot of people. What makes matters even worse for us is the fact that we happen to have a framework that is approximately twenty times faster than the two leading PHP frameworks - Laravel and Symfony. It should come as no surprise, then, that even before launch, Trongate has been at the receiving end of dozens of articles written by jealous and often malicious naysayers. Most of our critics bent over backwards to remain safely anonymous. However, a few of them sneakily published podcasts (never putting 'Trongate' in the title of their publications) and maliciously declared that Trongate had security vulnerabilities. All of their claims have, of course, long since been debunked. Unfortunately, these malicious naysayers went even further and posted demonstrably false statements about me - personally. For example, they claimed that I had applied for a position at PHPFIG and had been turned down. This is just one example in a long list of false claims made against me - all with the sole intent of discrediting me and portraying me as some kind of incompetent buffoon. Sure enough, defending both myself and Trongate against this kind of behavior turned out to be easy, and over the years I've written my fair share of retorts and posted YouTube videos that have dished out the kind of ridicule that the naysayers so rightfully deserve.

Now, the time has come for me to give all of those naysayers a gift that they do not deserve. That gift is 'The Age Of Integrity'. In the weeks and months ahead, you're going to see a more mature and serious version of Trongate being presented to the world. All hostile and confrontational content that has been produced by me is being removed. This process has already started and will continue. For the record, this process will also involve the phasing out of controversial and highly critical news articles that have appeared here on the website. To be crystal clear, I apologize for nothing and I stand by every word I have said. The big change is that I - along with the rest of Team Trongate - now find ourselves as guardians of one of the most popular active PHP frameworks in the world. In addition, I'm pleased to report that the Trongate naysayers have been remarkably quiet over these last few months. Therefore, I'm optimistic that this is a good time to draw a line under that chapter of Trongate's story and for us to move into a new chapter.

On a personal note, I would like to add that in many ways, the last few years have really shaken me to the core. Before building Trongate, I had assumed that the most popular technologies happen to be the best technologies. Now, I know differently. The fact of the matter is, there are boatloads of fantastic intellectual assets - such as frameworks and even programming languages - that most developers haven't heard of because, for one reason or another, those technologies are never given any airtime by influencers. Clearly, Trongate is in that category, and I'd even go so far as to say that Trongate is PHP's first 'cancelled' framework. I no longer expect any favors from anyone. I have long given up hope of Trongate ever receiving an abundance of glowing reviews from those who have it in their power to really help us get some traction. Nevertheless, I am going to keep going, and Trongate is here to stay. The Age of Integrity is upon us, and for those who are interested in Trongate, this will mean an opportunity to participate and become more involved in our framework. In the near future, I'll be reaching out and giving those who are willing opportunities to get involved as contributors, in whatever capacity they feel comfortable. Just about the only thing you'll be seeing slightly less of is me.

Forgive me if the site is full of bugs over the next few days. Rest assured, I'm on the case.

Happy coding!

DC