4 ms·

Matt Mullenweg: 'WordPress.org just belongs to me'

26 points by Tomte 2y ago

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
chiefalchemist 2y ago
Not the .org. Not the community. Not some other biz / NPO entity. "Me"??!?! So that single Me can wake up and decide, "no more plugin and theme updates for ANYONE. This is my party and I can megalomaniac if I want to."? I'm dumbfounded as to why there wasn't 100x more transparency on this, and related issues. Danger Will Robinson. Danger.
legitster 2y ago
> Mullenweg’s feud with WP Engine fans out in a few different directions. He’s criticized WP Engine for not putting enough time and money into developing the open-source WordPress ecosystem, saying that if you gave $1 to the WordPress Foundation, “you’d be a bigger donor than WP Engine.” Wordpress Foundation is a shell org with no employees controlled entirely by Matt Mullenweg. https://wordpressfoundation.org/about/financials/2023-financials/ https://wordpressfoundation.org/about/financials/2023-financ... The Wordpress Foundation has a subsidiary corporation called "WordPress Community Support" of which 88% of their income comes from event sponsorships. Of which WP Engine has been a top sponsor! They were a top sponsor at the event that Mullenweg (allegedly) extorted them at! https://us.wordcamp.org/2024/sponsors/ https://us.wordcamp.org/2024/sponsors/ So either Matt Mullenweg is confused about which fake charity shell corporation WP Engine was supposed to be paying into, or he is outright lying.
stefanos82 2y ago
Matt, what on earth are you doing man...
- legitster 2y ago
  > "In my role as owning WordPress.org, I don’t want to promote a company, which is A: legally threatening me and B: using the WordPress trademark. That’s part of why we cut off access from the servers." But... they didn't legally threaten you until after you cut off access from your servers. Matt is using events from the future to justify actions of the past.
aithrowawaycomm 2y ago
I missed this from earlier: The filing also includes a purported job offer from Mullenweg to WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner saying that if she declines to join Automattic, he’d tell the CEO of Silver Lake — the private equity firm that owns WP Engine. WP Engine referred us to the lawsuit when asked for comment. It's one thing to undermine your competitors by hiring out the staff from under them. But (alleged) blackmail seems pretty egregious even by authoritarian tech bro standards.

26 points by Tomte 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Not the .org. Not the community. Not some other biz / NPO entity. "Me"??!?! So that single Me can wake up and decide, "no more plugin and theme updates for ANYONE. This is my party and I can megalomaniac if I want to."? I'm dumbfounded as to why there wasn't 100x more transparency on this, and related issues. Danger Will Robinson. Danger.

legitster 2y ago

> Mullenweg’s feud with WP Engine fans out in a few different directions. He’s criticized WP Engine for not putting enough time and money into developing the open-source WordPress ecosystem, saying that if you gave $1 to the WordPress Foundation, “you’d be a bigger donor than WP Engine.” Wordpress Foundation is a shell org with no employees controlled entirely by Matt Mullenweg. https://wordpressfoundation.org/about/financials/2023-financials/ https://wordpressfoundation.org/about/financials/2023-financ... The Wordpress Foundation has a subsidiary corporation called "WordPress Community Support" of which 88% of their income comes from event sponsorships. Of which WP Engine has been a top sponsor! They were a top sponsor at the event that Mullenweg (allegedly) extorted them at! https://us.wordcamp.org/2024/sponsors/ https://us.wordcamp.org/2024/sponsors/ So either Matt Mullenweg is confused about which fake charity shell corporation WP Engine was supposed to be paying into, or he is outright lying.

stefanos82 2y ago

Matt, what on earth are you doing man...

legitster 2y ago
> "In my role as owning WordPress.org, I don’t want to promote a company, which is A: legally threatening me and B: using the WordPress trademark. That’s part of why we cut off access from the servers." But... they didn't legally threaten you until after you cut off access from your servers. Matt is using events from the future to justify actions of the past.

aithrowawaycomm 2y ago

I missed this from earlier: The filing also includes a purported job offer from Mullenweg to WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner saying that if she declines to join Automattic, he’d tell the CEO of Silver Lake — the private equity firm that owns WP Engine. WP Engine referred us to the lawsuit when asked for comment. It's one thing to undermine your competitors by hiring out the staff from under them. But (alleged) blackmail seems pretty egregious even by authoritarian tech bro standards.