4 ms·

Matt is coming across as suffering from his self-perception and a feeling of "moral credit". i.e. some mixture of "I am always the good guy" and "I am entitled

Matt is coming across as suffering from his self-perception and a feeling of "moral credit". i.e. some mixture of "I am always the good guy" and "I am entitled to this because I am usually the good guy".

blitzar 2y ago
"I am the good guy because I am rich and successful"
- gwd 2y ago
  I mean, what percentage of the web is built on WordPress? It's something massive, isn't it? On the whole, so far, he certainly has made the world a better place; and what's more he managed to do it profitably with GPL'ed software, which is no mean feat. I think that's certainly something to be proud of. And I can certainly see the frustration with a situation where private capital comes in and makes a company just as big as yours without giving anything back. But that's what you signed up for when you made your project GPL. Open source is built on trust, and I can't begin to describe how destructive this kind of behavior is.
  - blitzar 2y ago
    I never questioned either his success, which appears substantial, or his wealth, which is allegedly a reasonable $400 mil. I questioned if those metrics give one a moral or intellectual high ground on their own. Smart people can be wrong, stupid people can be right. "Past performance is no guarantee of future results" > I can certainly see the frustration with a situation where private capital comes in and makes a company just as big as yours without giving anything back. That sounds a lot like envy to me. Many (most I dare say) of the people whos work the success of WordPress is built on do not have "CEO & Angel Investor" on their profile and certainly dont have a net worth in the 100's of millions.
    - gwd 2y ago
      My point was, it's not, "I'm the good guy because I'm rich", but it's "I'm the good guy because I have done a lot of good in the world". I think it's undeniable that he has done a massive amount of good in the world; but that doesn't mean you can't sometimes be the bad guy at the same time.

blitzar 2y ago

"I am the good guy because I am rich and successful"

gwd 2y ago
I mean, what percentage of the web is built on WordPress? It's something massive, isn't it? On the whole, so far, he certainly has made the world a better place; and what's more he managed to do it profitably with GPL'ed software, which is no mean feat. I think that's certainly something to be proud of. And I can certainly see the frustration with a situation where private capital comes in and makes a company just as big as yours without giving anything back. But that's what you signed up for when you made your project GPL. Open source is built on trust, and I can't begin to describe how destructive this kind of behavior is.
- blitzar 2y ago
  I never questioned either his success, which appears substantial, or his wealth, which is allegedly a reasonable $400 mil. I questioned if those metrics give one a moral or intellectual high ground on their own. Smart people can be wrong, stupid people can be right. "Past performance is no guarantee of future results" > I can certainly see the frustration with a situation where private capital comes in and makes a company just as big as yours without giving anything back. That sounds a lot like envy to me. Many (most I dare say) of the people whos work the success of WordPress is built on do not have "CEO & Angel Investor" on their profile and certainly dont have a net worth in the 100's of millions.
  - gwd 2y ago
    My point was, it's not, "I'm the good guy because I'm rich", but it's "I'm the good guy because I have done a lot of good in the world". I think it's undeniable that he has done a massive amount of good in the world; but that doesn't mean you can't sometimes be the bad guy at the same time.