Matt Mullenweg & Automattic/WordPress vs WP Engine

[teriyakiburns]

Where does it say in the GPL that you're only entitled to the license if you invest X hours on developing the software you're using?

Clause -1. It's written in white ink on white paper.

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

The whole donation shaming thing is bullshit in general, even if companies should try to support their toolchain.

It’s nice of Wordpress to donate to the PHP foundation or whatever, but they could also just hire a developer for it or not do anything at all. After all, they’d be nothing without the Internet, where are the donations to IETF?

It’s one of the reasons that while the Redhat dicking around with Centos was annoying personally to me (I had to migrate a server and almost went to 8 ) it doesn’t bother me. Not lien whatever it is this fucktard is doing.

WPEngine should rebrand to WAPEngine.

 

[Flaming Dumpster]

Computerworld journo hack stretching the "sometime in the new year" nebulous statement from Matt to mean no dot org activity for the whole of 2025 https://www.computerworld.com/artic...eatens-possible-shutdown-for-all-of-2025.html (archive)

It's disingenuous, the statement from Matt is retarded but it's obvious that he means it'll reopen in the new year period and that is really up to the first 2 or at most 3 weeks of January.

Matt needs more journoscum disclaimers for his next schizopost.

 

[John Andrews Stan]

Computerworld journo hack stretching the "sometime in the new year" nebulous statement from Matt to mean no dot org activity for the whole of 2025 https://www.computerworld.com/artic...eatens-possible-shutdown-for-all-of-2025.html (archive)

It's disingenuous, the statement from Matt is retarded but it's obvious that he means it'll reopen in the new year period and that is really up to the first 2 or at most 3 weeks of January.

Matt needs more journoscum disclaimers for his next schizopost.

I don’t think Matt deserves any benefit of the doubt at this point. When he says he “hopes to find time some time in the new year,” he should be taken at his word. The statement included specific clarifications for media on other points, but not this one.

 

[skunt]

apparently, wordpress.org and it's subdomains suffered outages today (archive)

little throwback for ol matty - wordpress has not communicated it anywhere i can see either, but that's matt to a tee, rules for thee but not for me.

 

[Flaming Dumpster]

little throwback for ol matty - wordpress has not communicated it anywhere i can see either, but that's matt to a tee, rules for thee but not for me.

They wrote a message on https://status.wordpress.org/2024/12/23/we-are-currently-investigating-some/ (archive)
For some reason they have a barebones Wordpress blog as a status page instead of actually automating it or whatever. Literally retarded.

Edit: So poorly maintained that the Twitter account they mention for status updates hasn't been updated since 2022 https://x.com/wporgstatus

 

[skunt]

matt has delivered gifts upon us, on christmas day no less https://archive.ph/45QSz

tl;dr matt has literally, created a thread in the WPDrama subreddit asking what drama he should create for 2025

quick teaser:


this man is a full on lolcow

 

[teriyakiburns]

tl;dr matt has literally, created a thread in the WPDrama subreddit asking what drama he should create for 2025

Ah, the cope spiral tightens. He's shrinking into a corncob as we watch.

 

[Flaming Dumpster]

tl;dr matt has literally, created a thread in the WPDrama subreddit asking what drama he should create for 2025

Featuring simping for trannies who complained about getting banned from Tumblr

https://old.reddit.com/r/WPDrama/co...ma_should_i_create_in_2025/m3nzsrg/?context=3 (archive)

Obsessively combing through post histories of commenters to try make them feel some type of way

https://old.reddit.com/r/WPDrama/co...ma_should_i_create_in_2025/m3o4ayy/?context=3 (archive)

Rest is pretty boring, just lots of narc energy while he ignores the universally negative responses. Guy is so unbelievably tone deaf, I have to wonder if he's just getting worse with age (+ drug abuse) or if he's always been this bad and it's only just now escaped containment. WordPress in its current form is going to be dead within a year at this rate.

 

[Itchy Trashdick]

self-explanatory



Found context:

Archive https://archive.is/SZTK4

https://www.therepository.email/mullenweg-shuts-down-wordpress-sustainability-team-igniting-backlash

Spoiler

Veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher has described Matt Mullenweg’s move to shut down WordPress’s sustainability team as “bizarrely heinous behavior.”

Rae Morey
·
January 10, 2025
Members of the fledgling WordPress Sustainability Team have been left reeling after WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg abruptly dissolved the team this week—an action prominent tech journalist Kara Swisher has described as “bizarrely heinous behavior.”
The disbandment happened after team rep Thijs Buijs announced in Making WordPress Slack on Wednesday that he was stepping down from his role, citing a Reddit thread Mullenweg created on Christmas Eve asking for suggestions to create WordPress drama in 2025.
Buijs had hoped 2025 would bring more positivity to the WordPress community following the “WordPress drama” of 2024, referring to Mullenweg’s public feud with WP Engine. But said the Reddit thread was more proof that the community needed a change in leadership.
“These acts of a single person are so counterproductive to the economic, social, and ecological sustainability and longevity of the project. Personally, it’s not sustainable for me to invest any more energy into this project under the current leadership,” Buijs posted.
Ninety minutes later, Mullenweg joined the #sustainability channel, and 4 minutes later, he announced he was shutting down the team.
“Today I learned that we have a sustainability team,” Mullenweg said.
“Thank you @Thijs Buijs for your effort in this area, looking at results of the team so far, and the ROI of time invested, it’s probably a good time to officially dissolve the team entirely.”
“It doesn’t seem like creating a team around this was able to further any of its goals, so we should probably try a different approach, or consider whether it’s salient for us to be involved at all.
“(For example, is it worth talking about the climate impact of WordPress, or instead should we just have really great performance metrics and try to optimize our code as much as possible, and focus on that efficiency.)”
Mullenweg’s announcement prompted outrage on social media and in Slack channels, with many in the WordPress and wider tech communities criticizing Mullenweg’s hypocrisy, pointing out that it was his idea to create the sustainability team. Critics also slammed his apparent disregard for the self-sponsored team reps and their contributions to WordPress.
In a scathing post on Threads, veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher posted a screenshot of Mullenweg’s announcement in Slack and called him a “stone cold asshole.”
“The @wordpress platform was where @mossbergwalt and I started All Things D and later Recode, because it was so good and @photomatt was always very helpful. But what a pathetic turn for him into a stone cold asshole,” Swisher said. “I take no pleasure in saying this, but it’s true and I am so sorry for the staff there. Oh yeah, Matt, please don’t contact me offline trying to explain your current bizarrely heinous behavior. In other words: Over and out.”

 

[Palmer Bangs]

Archive https://archive.is/SZTK4

https://www.therepository.email/mullenweg-shuts-down-wordpress-sustainability-team-igniting-backlash

From that article, it looks like this team was created by him back in 2022.

He also deactivated the accounts of contributors "planning a fork"

https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/11/matt-mullenweg-deactivates-wordpress-accounts-of-contributors-planning-a-fork/

https://archive.ph/EUOoC

But a reddit comment clarifies:

Note: they didn’t even propose a fork at all. They respectfully and thoughtfully proposed helping to reorganize and restructure WordPress governance.
A fork may be their ultimate goal, but that’s not what they wrote about. That’s why Matt is all over the place with his terrible framing.
I mean, how can they both propose a fork and want to lead a Wordpress release at the same time? How can both be true at once?
The answer is that Matt is lying. Like he always does and always will do. Because at his core he’s a selfish, greedy, snivelling, coward. There is nothing good and honest left in this man’s soul. Nothing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1hylx50/matt_trolling_those_trying_to_maintain_wp_and/

https://archive.ph/6Tf9M

 

[John Andrews Stan]

Mullenweg is like Rekieta with the whole “I promise if you know the REAL story I look like the great guy I am” bit. So satisfying to see him called out for what he is.

 

[Kola]

There's this narrative he's trying to build recently that the lawsuits are going to END WORDPRESS and that he's powerless to stop them.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/mullenweg-says-lawsuits-could-end-wordpress/537336/

https://xcancel.com/photomatt/status/1878809636750721323 [A]


This is just one example of him consistently telling that particular story. Like all narcissists and histrionics, he loves painting himself as the victim while his behavior is becoming more and more unhinged.

In general I think there's now more than enough material for his own thread, he also keeps delivering new shit to laugh at almost every day. The potential for ongoing drama is huge. I've never really started any lolcow threads but I'm feeling tempted to do it because I've been following this thing since September and it keeps getting funnier and funnier.

He also keeps inserting himself wherever anybody posts any criticism of him; and I think there's a real possibility he would even create a KF account to come argue here if it came to his attention.

 

[mag_fag]

Feels like we're watching Matt break down in real time, this is about ~20 yrs of rep the guy's willingly throwing away for whatever reason. There's got to be something deeper to this, almost certainly, or who knows, maybe he just cracked under massive pressure.

 

[Kola]

Feels like we're watching Matt break down in real time, this is about ~20 yrs of rep the guy's willingly throwing away for whatever reason. There's got to be something deeper to this, almost certainly, or who knows, maybe he just cracked under massive pressure.

https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/WordPress

The reason is that Wordpress is on its way out and he's spent the last years trying to force shit nobody wants while the competitors are eating his lunch. It's finally sinking in. WP Engine has also been growing massively and threatening to become the dominant force in the WP world.

 

[Lapsus of the bepsus]

Feels like we're watching Matt break down in real time

it doesnt feel that way its whats actually happening. i havent followed him in the last 20 years but assuming he used to be normal-ish he seems to be having some crazy power tripping manic episode with no one able to stop him, kinda like kanye and his hitler loving arc. there will probably come a time when matt will deeply regret what hes now doing, if untreated, maybe become suicidal even. and so far the odds of his empire surviving the fucking fire hes setting to it arent looking too great

 

[Kola]

Ahem:



Motion to Intervene & Motion for Contempt Filed in WPEngine, Inc. v. Automattic Inc.

https://websiteredev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/wp-engine-automattic-matt-mullenweg-legal-filing.pdf

The guy running the r/WPDrama subreddit has filed this. In an extreme case of cow-tipping, he's trying to insert himself into the drama, and possibly, make some buck over it. He proposes restructuring Wordpress with himself on the oversight board.

https://old.reddit.com/r/WPDrama/comments/1i1p4pb/motion_to_intervene_motion_for_contempt_filed_in/

Later in this document, I provide my first draft for a proposed Wordpress Governance Oversight Board to be implemented by the courts for the duration of these proceedings. The main purpose of this board is to ensure that no actions can be taken by Matt Mullenweg or Automattic, to cause further damage to the users of Wordpress or to attempt to destroy its open source nature.
It is and has always been my intent with this proposed order, for it to serve as a first draft and a call for suggestions and solutions. I hope that I have laid out a decent starting point, but it may be that my proposal is insufficient, poorly written, or otherwise not up to the task that I set out to accomplish. If that is the case, then please tell me. I intend to take feedback from the entire Wordpress community and implement it into an amended proposed order. I expect to receive plenty of feedback from Matt and Automattic and WP Engine (those ones get filed in court), and I want to genuinely try to accommodate their needs in this as well. That is why I specifically set aside two seats that are under the control of two major WordPress teams that Matt has appointed. It is also why the language specifically allows the current release lead, at the time that this order is put in place, to nominate their replacement. You may have seen recent news coverage on who the current release lead is! It is my hope that said lead would pick a suitable replacement, and ensure the continued operation of the WordPress open source project while this court case continues.
By far the most “draft” part of this filing is that it includes me on the board. Please, give me better advice on someone to put there in my place. I beg of you. I’ll do it only if I must, but I think there may be better options than me.
It may very well be that my entire filing is thrown out as a waste of time, but I am left with no further recourse here, and I hope that I can at least help drive discussion forward about how to proceed and to fix the issues with our governance. As someone who has been building on WP for over 15 years, I just don’t want to see it die.

This will surely prove to be a great investment of time and money.

 

[Flaming Dumpster]

Motion to Intervene & Motion for Contempt Filed in WPEngine, Inc. v. Automattic Inc.

Archive of the PDF

 

[teriyakiburns]

maybe he just cracked under massive pressure.

I think he just does regular blow.

He proposes restructuring Wordpress with himself on the oversight board.

lol

lmao even

Oh wait, he's serious? In what fucking universe does "head jannie of a drama discussion board" qualify anyone to intervene in this way?

 

[Lapsus of the bepsus]

Oh wait, he's serious? In what fucking universe does "head jannie of a drama discussion board" qualify anyone to intervene in this way?

he claims he owns a company which is a competitor to automattic and wpe and getting banned from wordpress.org shit caused him damage in the form of lost contracts while matt taunted him or something. honestly his request doesnt even seem that unreasonable until you get to the bit where he claims to have suffered serious mental anguish and depression as a result of getting banned and now wants to be made the new boss of wordpress which is just, LMFAO why the fuck would you even put that on record you moron. yeah sure lets put a guy who runs a "WPDrama" subreddit and has regular shit flinging fests with matt in charge of the nonprofit. im sure any judge or jury will agree thats an excellent idea