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Matt Mullenweg did a video segment with ThePrimeagen yesterday. I found Matt’s stance a bit confusing in areas but admit it may just be too early in the mornin

Matt Mullenweg did a video segment with ThePrimeagen yesterday. I found Matt’s stance a bit confusing in areas but admit it may just be too early in the morning for me to process. https://youtu.be/H6F0PgMcKWM https://youtu.be/H6F0PgMcKWM

Aurornis 2y ago
Mullenweg is a well-practiced interviewee. He’s been cozied up to influencers and podcasters for a long time. He’s an expert in the art of PR and spin. Keep this in mind when trying to understand the situation through his one-sided interpretation. Anything Matt says publicly should be viewed in contrast to the texts he was sending to WP Engine. It’s clear that his public spin on the situation didn’t match the dirty games he was playing with them via text and via actions with the WordPress services. I think he’s getting a lot of benefit of the doubt from people who have seen his name across the Internet for years, but getting a peak behind the curtain at his texts really shattered any ideas I had about how trustworthy he is.
- chuckadams 2y ago
  > He’s an expert in the art of PR and spin Claims that have been not at all in evidence this week. He's applying his "scorched earth nuclear approach" on his next door neighbor, forgetting a few things about nuclear warfare...
- deleted 2y ago
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- arp242 2y ago
  It's not like WP-Engine isn't trying to explain things in their favour. I once had someone strategically edit and delete some of their GitHub comments to make me look like an asshole (before GitHub showed you this). Their only motivation was "revenge" for denying a feature request (after which they got all pissy, I told him off, and then a few months later he edited things to make it look like I was being highly abrasive to random people). What I'm trying to say is: I wouldn't be so quick to trust a one-sided limited set of screenshots from various conversations. Maybe Mullenweg is the "bad guy" here, I don't know, but even if he is that doesn't automatically mean WP Engine are the good guys, or that everything they say is spinless truth. I'll also add that Mullenweg's communications and actions mostly come across as rash and without much thought. Certainly not polished spin.
  - runjake 2y ago
    > I wouldn't be so quick to trust a one-sided limited set of screenshots from various conversations. I am/was a Matt fan but the texts strike me as clearly passive-aggressive and threatening and inappropriate. To me, anyway. He's always portrayed this "kind monk" persona, but to see him attempt to maintain this persona while also spewing fairly poisonous rhetoric is really turning me off. > I'll also add that Mullenweg's communications and actions mostly come across as rash and without much thought. Certainly not polished spin. 100% agree and it's surprising, given what I know about him. These incidents are making me wonder if Matt is having other stressors in his life right now. He just recently got back from a self-described sabbatical.
    - arp242 2y ago
      > the texts strike me as clearly passive-aggressive and threatening and inappropriate. To me, anyway. I agree. My point was that we only see the texts WP-Engine wants us to see, rather than the full conversation. For example something like this: "Matt: Hi there! I'd like to discuss the possibility of WP-Engine contributing back more developers to the WordPress codebase; right now I feel you contribute back very little relative to your income, and we could really use some help on WordPress" "WP-Engine: Fuck off you twat" Would of course put Mullenweg's communications in a rather different light. Or maybe Mullenweg really is just going off the rails. I don't know... But I'd be careful to judge too quickly without all the facts. Whatever can be said about Mullenweg's communications, that Cease & Desist from WP-Engine also did not impress me and seemed more like a blogpost by their CEO rather than a legitimate legal complaint written by legal professionals.

Aurornis 2y ago

Mullenweg is a well-practiced interviewee. He’s been cozied up to influencers and podcasters for a long time. He’s an expert in the art of PR and spin. Keep this in mind when trying to understand the situation through his one-sided interpretation. Anything Matt says publicly should be viewed in contrast to the texts he was sending to WP Engine. It’s clear that his public spin on the situation didn’t match the dirty games he was playing with them via text and via actions with the WordPress services. I think he’s getting a lot of benefit of the doubt from people who have seen his name across the Internet for years, but getting a peak behind the curtain at his texts really shattered any ideas I had about how trustworthy he is.

chuckadams 2y ago
> He’s an expert in the art of PR and spin Claims that have been not at all in evidence this week. He's applying his "scorched earth nuclear approach" on his next door neighbor, forgetting a few things about nuclear warfare...
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
arp242 2y ago
It's not like WP-Engine isn't trying to explain things in their favour. I once had someone strategically edit and delete some of their GitHub comments to make me look like an asshole (before GitHub showed you this). Their only motivation was "revenge" for denying a feature request (after which they got all pissy, I told him off, and then a few months later he edited things to make it look like I was being highly abrasive to random people). What I'm trying to say is: I wouldn't be so quick to trust a one-sided limited set of screenshots from various conversations. Maybe Mullenweg is the "bad guy" here, I don't know, but even if he is that doesn't automatically mean WP Engine are the good guys, or that everything they say is spinless truth. I'll also add that Mullenweg's communications and actions mostly come across as rash and without much thought. Certainly not polished spin.
- runjake 2y ago
  > I wouldn't be so quick to trust a one-sided limited set of screenshots from various conversations. I am/was a Matt fan but the texts strike me as clearly passive-aggressive and threatening and inappropriate. To me, anyway. He's always portrayed this "kind monk" persona, but to see him attempt to maintain this persona while also spewing fairly poisonous rhetoric is really turning me off. > I'll also add that Mullenweg's communications and actions mostly come across as rash and without much thought. Certainly not polished spin. 100% agree and it's surprising, given what I know about him. These incidents are making me wonder if Matt is having other stressors in his life right now. He just recently got back from a self-described sabbatical.
  - arp242 2y ago
    > the texts strike me as clearly passive-aggressive and threatening and inappropriate. To me, anyway. I agree. My point was that we only see the texts WP-Engine wants us to see, rather than the full conversation. For example something like this: "Matt: Hi there! I'd like to discuss the possibility of WP-Engine contributing back more developers to the WordPress codebase; right now I feel you contribute back very little relative to your income, and we could really use some help on WordPress" "WP-Engine: Fuck off you twat" Would of course put Mullenweg's communications in a rather different light. Or maybe Mullenweg really is just going off the rails. I don't know... But I'd be careful to judge too quickly without all the facts. Whatever can be said about Mullenweg's communications, that Cease & Desist from WP-Engine also did not impress me and seemed more like a blogpost by their CEO rather than a legitimate legal complaint written by legal professionals.