4 ms·

I don’t understand why Automattic is involved at all. I imagined this was between Wordpress dot org and WP engine or whatever. Nobody should ever have to pay au

I don’t understand why Automattic is involved at all. I imagined this was between Wordpress dot org and WP engine or whatever. Nobody should ever have to pay automattic a dime. I came into this conversation fully in support of Wordpress dot org but the more I read into this the more it feels like I didn’t understand the situation between automattic and Wordpress dot org at all. I’m leaving the conversation thinking the relation between automattic and Wordpress dot org is one of tax avoidance. What am I missing?

bradfa 2y ago
WordPress dot org is basically fully funded and operated by Automattic. It seems that by default a WordPress installation will use WordPress dot org for many features and capabilities. WP Engine leaves this enabled on their hosted sites, so each WP Engine customer is effectively getting free access to an Automattic funded resource. Automattic wants to get paid back for this use, either in money or developer resources. Automattic's desire seems totally reasonable. Their execution of expressing that desire seems to be totally unreasonable.
- maxloh 2y ago
  Except there is a "Donate" link in the wordpress.org footer, which leads to The WordPress Foundation's donation page. On that page, it states: [0] > The WordPress Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization... I don’t find it reasonable for a non-profit organization to demand payment from users to one of its donors, Automattic, instead of encouraging donations to itself. [0]: https://wordpressfoundation.org/donate/ https://wordpressfoundation.org/donate/
  - thanksgiving 2y ago
    Exactly. If Wordpress dot org demanded that companies that use foundation server resources pay the foundation, I’d be ok with that. Why is automattic involved in this conversation? I generally assume other people are smarter than more competent than I am, especially successful people like Matt. That’s why I asked the question. There has to be more to the story, right? Is it as simple as Matt didn’t even talk to a lawyer before doing all of this for whatever reason?

bradfa 2y ago

WordPress dot org is basically fully funded and operated by Automattic. It seems that by default a WordPress installation will use WordPress dot org for many features and capabilities. WP Engine leaves this enabled on their hosted sites, so each WP Engine customer is effectively getting free access to an Automattic funded resource. Automattic wants to get paid back for this use, either in money or developer resources. Automattic's desire seems totally reasonable. Their execution of expressing that desire seems to be totally unreasonable.

maxloh 2y ago
Except there is a "Donate" link in the wordpress.org footer, which leads to The WordPress Foundation's donation page. On that page, it states: [0] > The WordPress Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization... I don’t find it reasonable for a non-profit organization to demand payment from users to one of its donors, Automattic, instead of encouraging donations to itself. [0]: https://wordpressfoundation.org/donate/ https://wordpressfoundation.org/donate/
- thanksgiving 2y ago
  Exactly. If Wordpress dot org demanded that companies that use foundation server resources pay the foundation, I’d be ok with that. Why is automattic involved in this conversation? I generally assume other people are smarter than more competent than I am, especially successful people like Matt. That’s why I asked the question. There has to be more to the story, right? Is it as simple as Matt didn’t even talk to a lawyer before doing all of this for whatever reason?