by davidandgoliath on 10/17/24, 6:53 PM with 141 comments
by runjake on 10/17/24, 8:28 PM
- Matt, under various guises, is shifting blame to different entities that are effectively himself.
- Automattic is Matt. Matt is the CEO of Automattic.
- The WordPress Foundation is, effectively, Matt.
- The problem is Matt. Maybe he's right about WP Engine, but the way he has and continues to handle everything has been disastrous.
by codegeek on 10/17/24, 8:55 PM
by itfossil on 10/17/24, 8:59 PM
If somebody doesn't fork WordPress soon, it will be decades before WordPress is purged from the web and in the meantime a lot of those remaining sites will devolve into bot-net members and malware hosts.
Because that's how Mullenwegs crusade is going to end: With the death of WordPress.
by sureIy on 10/17/24, 8:41 PM
> you can just continue to use WordPress without any impact
That's nice—
> on any other host than WP Engine
That's the whole point, Matt.
by legitster on 10/17/24, 9:28 PM
WordPress is itself a fork of a previous open-source GPL license. Meaning Mullenweg couldn't make it close source even if he wanted to.
He makes it pretty clear that he thinks all of WordPress should belong to him. So he's intentionally closing out the ecosystem by making it as hostile to third-parties as possible.
As some like to say, "the cruelty is the point".
by xnx on 10/17/24, 10:16 PM
No one with money at stake will allow their Wordpress install to be subject to random sabotage by the whims of unhinged behavior. I don't know if a fork is the solution, but Matt can't have admin access to so many installs.
by PaulHoule on 10/17/24, 9:15 PM
by jongjong on 10/17/24, 10:08 PM
by olliej on 10/17/24, 9:23 PM
It doesn’t matter what he thinks he’s doing (my belief is that he’s just frustrated that someone else is profiting more than he thinks is “fair” and is using everything else as a cover, but maybe he does actually believe WPE is causing harm).
But here’s the problem I have with the whole position he’s taken. If this were actually about “Wordpress the project/community” the payment would be to the non profit not his personal for-profit company. If it was about trademarks, he should not have made the prior claims that the trademarks were not the property of his for profit when they functionally are. He would have not misrepresented the non profit as an independent entity (a fiction demonstrated clearly by the requirement to compensate his for profit).
if WPEngine is not contributing a “fair” amount to an open source project that sucks, but that’s always a risk if you want to build a for profit business on an OSS basis. But you can’t then unilaterally and retroactively change the rules later on, and act like it’s a “protecting the community” nonsense. You sure as shit don’t get to just engage in explicit extortion.[1]
Again, maybe wpengine was not contributing a fair share back to “the community”, but that’s just how OSS works, not everyone is a contributor.
[1] something I’ve found myself wondering about: my understanding is that under the law a contract signed under duress is not valid. Given the threats Matt was making, if WPE had signed it, would they be able to then go to court and say it was not enforceable due to the threat being leveled at them?
by bityard on 10/17/24, 7:43 PM
But then I regained my senses... I don't have any kind of reputation or extensive proof of accomplishments or character outside of my resume and real-life social circle. Any company that would cold-contact someone like me is 100% dealing with either abnormally low offer acceptance or abnormally high employee turnover, or both. I also remember reading (on Reddit and such) from previous employees that the CEO was best described as "mercurial."
There were enough bright waving red flags that I did not bother to respond.
by rsynnott on 10/18/24, 11:58 AM
(Not that the previous model was foolproof, but they were usually a lot easier to get rid of when they went rogue; for instance see Léo Apotheker.)
by neilv on 10/17/24, 9:23 PM
But, obviously, this is currently looking like a disaster of PR and community.
So, hopefully they can figure out:
* solutions to the open source sustainability challenges,
* a solution to the harm done by recent mistakes, and
* how to try to prevent mistakes like that from happening again.
by ankleturtle on 10/17/24, 8:28 PM
Matt responds: > WP Engine is a “competitor”, but so is every other web host in the world. Automattic and WordPress.org have had good relations with all the others for 21 years. WordPress.org recommends a number of hosts.
It seems Matt is forgetting his "friendly" spat with GoDaddy a few years ago.
Matt continues: > His criticism of certain practices focuses on maintaining the platform’s integrity and open-source commitment to ensure the community can grow further with sustainable investments.
Let's assume this is all true. It doesn't change the fact that he's attacking a direct competitor.
Matt continues: > Silver Lake is far wealthier than Matt or Automattic.
This is how you know that Matt wrote the response. It's the same ego defending behavior that he used when responding to DHH.
Matt is very, very bad at PR. It's really time he learns that and lets others take over those roles. And it's time he learns to shut up. He hurts more than he helps.
by spaceman_2020 on 10/17/24, 8:42 PM
Maybe its a newfound persona, maybe its a new marketing angle, or maybe its just someone going a little unhinged. But all isn’t right in the WordPress world
by drumdance on 10/18/24, 1:28 PM
by mastazi on 10/17/24, 9:36 PM
by zeruch on 10/17/24, 8:46 PM
by mugivarra69 on 10/17/24, 8:37 PM
by preommr on 10/17/24, 9:01 PM
by throwaway48476 on 10/17/24, 8:47 PM
by altairprime on 10/17/24, 9:03 PM
by nfRfqX5n on 10/17/24, 9:05 PM