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Honest question from an outsider. WordPress is open source, so why hasn't the project been replaced with one that doesn't include him?

geuis 2y ago
Momentum. Heavy objects in motion have inertia. Oddly works in a similar fashion with software projects. 20+ years of OSS contributions and Matt leading the project is a LOT of inertia. You can fork the project right now yourself, but until some significant number of contributors move their efforts to your fork, you get no change of direction.
rmccue 2y ago
The value of WordPress is in the brand, the ecosystem, and the community, and we’re all trying desperately to hold that together.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  Maybe stop doing that? There's a reason revolutions usually involve total destruction at some point along the way. Makes me wonder with the apparent lack of strong will just how much of the dissent is actually a (very) loud minority.
  - jjulius 2y ago
    Tangential, but I see the same arguments being made as I discuss completely abandoning social media this week - "But where else can we go to find out about X/Y/Z?". I dunno, but we can figure that out, we always have. Maybe, like you said, we should just start with not desperately holding something like that together. Maybe not everyone in the world needs to be in the same place at the same time, maybe a hodgepodge is okay. But people have the need to inform and be informed, so a solution will eventually crop up.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
troymc 2y ago
WordPress is a lot more than it's core code. There's a whole ecosystem of plugins, for example, and the usual place to share them (wordpress.org/plugins) is, essentially, controlled by one guy. It's not so easy to fork that.
- econ 2y ago
  Then start with a new place to share plugins.
  - magic_smoke_ee 2y ago
    Exactly. It's a SPoF. Depending on ego and whims of a malicious tyrant is stupidity or insanity.
  - Timon3 2y ago
    The first people to take this step will most likely have their plugins stolen, just as Matt did with ACF. This means taking this step is a massive danger for the first contributors - those with the highest impact are those with the most to lose.
    - Ringz 2y ago
      What do you exactly mean with „stolen“? Honest question.
      - dalmo3 2y ago
        He forked the plugin and pointed the original uri to his fork: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41821400 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41821400
      - Timon3 2y ago
        Matt's company will fork your project, replace your original plugin listing and claim all your reviews as theirs, while also stopping you from distributing security updates to force people to switch to their fork. Imagine if you make your money from selling your plugin, and Matt does this to you. Every WP plugin developer has to live in fear of this happening at any moment, and you can be certain it will happen if you show any kind of resistance towards Matt.

geuis 2y ago

Momentum. Heavy objects in motion have inertia. Oddly works in a similar fashion with software projects. 20+ years of OSS contributions and Matt leading the project is a LOT of inertia. You can fork the project right now yourself, but until some significant number of contributors move their efforts to your fork, you get no change of direction.

rmccue 2y ago

The value of WordPress is in the brand, the ecosystem, and the community, and we’re all trying desperately to hold that together.

Dalewyn 2y ago
Maybe stop doing that? There's a reason revolutions usually involve total destruction at some point along the way. Makes me wonder with the apparent lack of strong will just how much of the dissent is actually a (very) loud minority.
- jjulius 2y ago
  Tangential, but I see the same arguments being made as I discuss completely abandoning social media this week - "But where else can we go to find out about X/Y/Z?". I dunno, but we can figure that out, we always have. Maybe, like you said, we should just start with not desperately holding something like that together. Maybe not everyone in the world needs to be in the same place at the same time, maybe a hodgepodge is okay. But people have the need to inform and be informed, so a solution will eventually crop up.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

troymc 2y ago

WordPress is a lot more than it's core code. There's a whole ecosystem of plugins, for example, and the usual place to share them (wordpress.org/plugins) is, essentially, controlled by one guy. It's not so easy to fork that.

econ 2y ago
Then start with a new place to share plugins.
- magic_smoke_ee 2y ago
  Exactly. It's a SPoF. Depending on ego and whims of a malicious tyrant is stupidity or insanity.
- Timon3 2y ago
  The first people to take this step will most likely have their plugins stolen, just as Matt did with ACF. This means taking this step is a massive danger for the first contributors - those with the highest impact are those with the most to lose.
  - Ringz 2y ago
    What do you exactly mean with „stolen“? Honest question.
    - dalmo3 2y ago
      He forked the plugin and pointed the original uri to his fork: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41821400 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41821400
    - Timon3 2y ago
      Matt's company will fork your project, replace your original plugin listing and claim all your reviews as theirs, while also stopping you from distributing security updates to force people to switch to their fork. Imagine if you make your money from selling your plugin, and Matt does this to you. Every WP plugin developer has to live in fear of this happening at any moment, and you can be certain it will happen if you show any kind of resistance towards Matt.