If I were Matthew, ...
I think I had better say something!
1. I appreciate the kindness and sensitivity of people who have said "If I were Matthew...". There is nothing to worry about. Robust opinion is the norm on the web, and anyway the discussion was not personal, it was mostly about PHP5 and PECL.
2. If I didn't know before I would have learnt that patches are the best form of currency. And people have opinions about ways the PECL site could be improved. And there is some personal history and real strength of feeling about it all.
3. There is still a question in my mind about the trustworthiness of the download statistics but I am not alone. Sara's example is telling - it seems hard to believe that the world is downloading 800 copies of net_gopher a month. I am going to take our 300 with a pinch of salt.
I am on vacation for a fortnight so flame at will... :-)
Matthew