It would be just lovely if there was a forum devoted to development with the MVC way of programming with PHP, if not specifically for the ruby on rails like framework known as CakePHP.
There has been some discussion amongst the Moderators, both pro and con, about having a PHP Frameworks forum here. That there are dedicated forums is certainly a reason against having a frameworks forum here. Some of the reasons for having a forum here are that: it may be friendlier than framework specific forums especially for newbies and critical questions, there are a lot of experienced people already answering framework questions, you might get a more balanced response to questions comparing frameworks, etc.
There is nothing from what I see preventing discussion of various frameworks here already. Having different forums for different frameworks would merely spread things out even further. Let's face it, there are already a LOT of forums here. Do we really want to have a dedicated CakePHP forum? Most likely it would get missed by the majority of users. We have a hard enough time of having people find the PHP Code forum and posting there. CakePHP would be limited in use, and limited in viewers as well. I don't generally use CakePHP, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't stop to help someone having some issue.
Then there is the issue of placement. Do you post in PHP Code, Theory, or CakePHP? Just because you are using CakePHP doesn't mean it's a CakePHP specific answer. The mods/admins here have done an excellent job of preventing adding forums just because they can. Sure, it would be awesome to have a full functioning, thriving CakePHP community here full utilizing a CakePHP subforum that is futher split into the various sub-categories of PHP.
But that isn't the case.
This doesn't mean CakePHP can't be discussed here. On the contrary, it should be discussed here. However, in the existing forums. If the issue is code related to CakePHP, post it in PHP Code. If it's about setting up the design and structure of your application, Theory would be better.
Finally, this isn't to say this is the final word. This is just my opinion on the matter. If I'm proven wrong and we get enough topics on CakePHP that is saturates the PHP Code forums, I imagine we'd reconsider and open a forum to serve that purpose. But I doubt that will happen.
Jason, thank you for granting my wish for a home for CakePHP
The frameworks forum you made is perfect.
I do however disagree about your assessments of Cake, CakePHP code is really its own code, as compared to PHP code. Comparatively speaking, it would be like writing Java Desktop apps versus say Android Apps. Yes they are both java, but really different when you use them both. With Cake, you pretty much have to know what you want to do, and then figure out the CakePHP way of doing it. Because of this, having fellow peers that have experience with CakePHP can really help. The phpdn community is large and been around a lot longer than Cake has. I would go so far as to say the phpdn community beats any CakePHP community out there. So it is great that phpdn can absorb some of the MVC users out there needing help. I'd much rather ask phpdn than any other php forums out there, except for the manual of course
Thanks Pyrite for the info about CakePHP. You are long-time member who has been a great contributor to DevNet. Perhaps from time to time you might want to post your thoughts about learning and using CakePHP in the Frameworks forums. Non-Cake users could ask you questions to learn if Cake might make sense for them to use.