On the /r/php subreddit on Reddit.com, TheSkilletHead wonders if ORMs are inherently limiting in PHP development. Their main point is that, in abstracting and simplifying the interface the developer has to work with, some of the power of the complex database handling is lost.

I don't feel like I'm asking too much from an ORM. I'm not asking for the ORM to manage database-side functions. I'm not asking it to manage database-side variables. I'm not asking it support every type of INSERT (like INSERT DELAYED). I'm OK that it doesn't support LOAD DATA INFILE. I'm even OK with the overhead. However, when I look up why Doctrine doesn't support UPDATE ... JOIN and the response is "it's too different across database engines", then I'm a bit disappointed because that seems to be why one would use an ORM in the first place. [...] Can an ORM be a useful tool to abstract the database or is it just a crutch for people who can't be bothered to learn SQL?

There's quite a few comments on the post already, most confirming his opinion that ORMs are limiting. Some, however, note that they don't have to be. There are some (like the CakePHP 3 ORM) that do have some more advanced features and are still easy to use. Despite this, most of the comments are about developers moving away from ORM use towards more specific, customized solutions that are a better fit for their needs and database systems.