Frustration with Drupal tends to bubble up from time to time. We see it at Lab Hours sessions and on the labtime email list. We see it on Drupal.org forums. We hear it from clients and potential clients. The words "I hate Drupal" come out of our mouths at the Advantage Labs office more often than you'd might suspect. It's only natural.

Earlier this week I encountered a blog post on the Sunlight Foundation's website that contains more than a nugget of truth. If you've ever uttered "I hate Drupal," even softly, you should take a look at this post:

http://www.sunlightlabs.com/blog/2009/02/23/content-management-systems-j...

This perspective is one I've encountered for some time.  It is less frequent as CMS software has become better, better supported and easier to use-- but it's still prevalent.  As I said, though, I think what Clay says can be considered quite valid.

Drupal is the right tool for many situations and just plain wrong for others.  And, as Allie and I posited in our presentation at New Times New Tech last week, having experienced Drupal technical help is pretty much essential when trying to build a reasonably complex online community website with Drupal.  Advantage Labs, Acquia, Lullabot, Bryght, other small companies and many many individuals are working to change this equation and eliminate the need for the "middleman."  Much progress towards that goal has been made.  I'd like to think the fact that I can consider myself at least a low-level Drupal expert is testament to that progress.

All in all, though, it's a work in progress.  Work that we can all share and then share in the collective achievements we produce.

Okay, that's a bit too much open source Kumbaya, even for me.  I'll stop now.