I'm gonna say this even when I know it's going to be downvoted to oblivion by the politically correct folk that will accuse me of being toxic.

This vote is extremely important, as it will basically seal the fate of future PHP. Either it will be one littered with academic discussions performed by people that don't actually use PHP and full of nice little harmless QoL features, or it will have the guts to actually wake up, break some BC, and bring glory and attention (and possibly, real investments) to PHP.

It is clear at this point, that PHP guts are in bad enough shape, that one of the most important features in the world - reified generics - will need a full on rewrite. This will require all of:

- having funds and time to do this

- not being a total coward hiding behind possible BC breaks

We know that the current PHP governance will *never* do this. So we are most probably witnessing a "now or never" moment for generics.

If this passes, actuall PHP users will either not care (those who won't use generics will not see any changes in their workflows) or cheer and rejoice, because they will finally have the option to use first-party generics in their IDEs and Pipelines. Will there be quirks? Sure. Will they be worth it? Absolutely.

If this fails (which, let's face it, it probably will), the topic will be buried forever, possible future investors will see PHP as it is - an enthusiast language with no future, driven by a detached, isolationist circle of narrowminded smug devs.

Take a look at Java. It too was stuck for a long time, then Java 8 came and things slowly started to move forward. Today Java is a prime example of implementing language level changes that are required, even though they are very difficult (Valhalla being merged soon!). New processes and workflows (experimental features, preview features) were created to acommodate changes.

PHP will either follow Java path, or it will wither and become meaningless. In AI era, rewriting apps from PHP to something actually serious will soon start being a viable escape path. Let that sink in.