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This debate is extremely dumb, and everybody gish gallops and implies something terrible when they try to explain what Automattic is doing wrong, because they c

This debate is extremely dumb, and everybody gish gallops and implies something terrible when they try to explain what Automattic is doing wrong, because they can't figure it out. So they instead give reasons why they insist it will be bad for his business (isn't that his business?) and pretend like that's him "technically" not doing anything tortious. It's not technical, the lawsuit from WPE is there to read. It's silly, and if it's not thrown out it will be because the judge needs time to understand the complexities of the license (and the promise that "Wordpress" will be turned over to the community after Automattic, who has an exclusive license to the trademark, shuts down.) Using the reasons that you think this is a bad business decision as proxy reasons why he's wronged everyone making a living from his work is a veiled threat. Don't threaten to leave, just leave. Maybe the problem is this haunting by the "Spirit of Open Source" where people insist that they have all of these rights that aren't in the license. Wordpress is not open source. It is Free Software. You already own it. Fork it if you want. If WPEngine is already doing almost as much business as Wordpress.com, they can handle everything themselves. If people love WPEngine more, they can leave. Don't whine when the value proposition for WPEngine changes after they have to take care of everything themselves, and they start violating the Spirit of Open Source until their bottom line looks better again. I'm swearing an oath to violate the Spirit of Open Source wherever I see a hint of it, I'm just sticking to the licenses. The Spirit of Open Source somehow makes already wealthy people feel entitled to everything in the world. Free Software is important to me, and the people who make it should be as aggressive as will financially benefit them, as long as they abide by the letter of the GPL. The software is what's important, not that your half-billion dollar business is built on top of somebody else's half-billion dollar business. That's a you-problem. Also, this is just straight up abuser behavior towards this guy. He doesn't do what you want with what is his, so you degrade him and accuse him of stealing his own property. It's hard to watch. I'm going to stop commenting on these threads, but this mobbing is ridiculous. I hope he's emotionally stable; but a lot of tech CEOs aren't, and his awkward reactions to the pitchforks don't give me confidence. If you're compulsively reading all of these threads, stop now. Stay strong and know that 95% of this is coming from people who are directly connected to this financially and just don't want to be inconvenienced.

_cenw 2y ago
The "spirit of open source" or whatever implicit terms come with the piece of free software was that Matt/Automattic are good stewards of the software, especially in regards to it being hardcoded to use to wp.org. It's incredibly silly to throw that goodwill away when you're load-bearing for almost half the web. These actions will create forks with different stewards and at worst fragment the codebase.
CRConrad 2y ago
> This debate is extremely dumb, Well, yes... At least some contributions to it certainly are. > and everybody gish gallops and implies something terrible when they try to explain what Automattic is doing wrong, because they can't figure it out Funny, I thought I'd seen several perfectly cogent explanations of exactly what mr Mullenweg and Automattic is doing wrong, both here in this thread and in TFA. The only thing that looks remotely like a Gish Gallop to me is your post. (And perhaps those of benatkins.)

_cenw 2y ago

The "spirit of open source" or whatever implicit terms come with the piece of free software was that Matt/Automattic are good stewards of the software, especially in regards to it being hardcoded to use to wp.org. It's incredibly silly to throw that goodwill away when you're load-bearing for almost half the web. These actions will create forks with different stewards and at worst fragment the codebase.

CRConrad 2y ago

> This debate is extremely dumb, Well, yes... At least some contributions to it certainly are. > and everybody gish gallops and implies something terrible when they try to explain what Automattic is doing wrong, because they can't figure it out Funny, I thought I'd seen several perfectly cogent explanations of exactly what mr Mullenweg and Automattic is doing wrong, both here in this thread and in TFA. The only thing that looks remotely like a Gish Gallop to me is your post. (And perhaps those of benatkins.)