Matt Mullenweg Says WPE Lawsuit Could End WordPress… Um Nope!

In a post from Search Engine Journal, Roger Montti reports that Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of the WordPress open source content management system, says that the lawsuit with WP Engine could end WordPress.

Honestly this has me fuming. Because WordPress is so much more than just Matt. It has a huge community of supporters and developers that won’t let this happen.

What could happen, and should happen, is that WordPress gets forked and that version taken over by the community-at-large.

Matt could shut down WordPress.org and everything and the community would find a way to keep the core software running.

To me, this crowing from Matt is a play for sympathy for something HE started and is now probably feeling he’s gotten in too deep.

The growing consensus, from what I see online, is that Matt has lost the PR battle and is now on the defensive. I’m not sure what he can do to reverse course. But honestly he won’t, he’ll just keep digging himself into a hole.

Am I overly concerned that the WordPress software that powers 40%+ of the Websites on the web going away totally? No.

I am worried about what my clients and future clients think about using the software.

Matt is hurting much more than just himself here.

It’s unforgivable.

Matt Mullenweg Doesn’t Like Being Called Out On His Behavior

Inc.com posted an article that their reporter did with Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress.

In the article the reporter, David H. Freedman, doesn’t paint a sunshine and rainbows picture of the whole fiasco between Matt (et. al) and WP Engine.

Matt, in his right, responded calling the piece a “Hit Piece.”

https://ma.tt/2024/12/inc-hit-piece/

I don’t blame Matt for not liking being called out on his actions, but what does he honestly expect? Honestly, he put a, formerly mandatory, checkbox that made people swear allegiance to pineapple on pizza to log in to WordPress.com. It’s now optional.

I’d love to hear all of your thoughts.

OK, whoever in #Wordpress team thought that editing navigation through path of five+ clicks is a good idea, was wrong. Just compare how easy it was before and how difficult (and hidden) it is now since Gutenberg themes!
#Automattic #MattVsWpe #gutenberg #ux #ui

Great analysis of the TechCrunch Disrupt interview with Matt Mullenweg from Matt Medeiros and Brian Coords on The WP Minute Podcast.

https://youtu.be/Bq_Gny09JzU?si=6JxnOwMWPwdLMPUf

It’s worth a watch if you have 45 or so minutes. I think it’s worthwhile. Clearly.​

A good outline can be found here.

If you don’t follow The WP Minute Podcast, you need to, it’s really good.

https://sethgoldstein.me/matt-mullenweg-at-techcrunch-disrupt-2024-analysis-from-the-wp-minute-podcast-crew/

Matt Mullenweg recently posted on his blog that his freedom of speech has been hindered by a court injunction in the lawsuit brought by WP Engine against him et. al.

https://ma.tt/2024/10/first-amendment/

Ummmm, I don’t think that the court telling you to STFU is a First Amendment issue.

As I recall, after all I was a professional journalist and went to J-school for 4 years prior, the First Amendment has to do with you and having the government trying to suppress it.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What I can say, and I’m not a lawyer, is that Matt probably has libeled himself and maybe it can be construed as actual malice. But again, I’m just a former professional journalist who has had to learn how to not get himself sued.

I might actually be a good thing, and I’m not speaking for his lawyers here, for him to be quiet and get through this legal battle.

Another interesting First Amendment discussion is that the Supreme Court has said that Platforms can curate speech as a First Amendment Right. But is Matt Mullenweg, the human, a platform? And also, I do believe, it doesn’t protect against defamation.

Though, with a second read, it looks like Matt is saying that WordPress the platform’s rights have been hindered. Ugh.

Oh the crazy web we weave.

So put the popcorn away everyone. The show appears to be over — for now.

https://sethgoldstein.me/matt-mullenweg-free-speech/

https://wpmustwin.org/
#wordpress #WPEngine #MattVsWpe #cms #opensource #foss

What a shit move. https://wordpress.org/news/2024/10/secure-custom-fields/

I mean forking is allowed with the GNU license but come on this is petty as FUCK.

I haven’t found a better platform for my stuff than WordPress.

Do I want Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine to come to some agreement and get this behind us. Absolutely.

But I don’t think switching platforms because of Matt’s behavior makes any sense. And yes that’s just my opinion.

Maybe stop contributing to the project until things get better. Or don’t submit your plugin to the main WordPress.org repo. But leaving a platform that you know and love, isn’t doing anything to Matt, really.

If anything it’s hurting you. Now, if you were already other-CMS-curious then this might be the time to do a switch or explore other options. But jumping from WordPress, especially a self-hosted version, isn’t doing anything… come on! Get real.

Now, not paying for products that Automattic, Matt’s company, makes? Sure that’s a protest. Maybe do that instead of nuking your own tech stack.

This is just my opinion. Thoughts?

https://sethgoldstein.me/on-wordpress/

What fresh hell is this, #Wordpress community? Now every freaking plugin that you pay for adds multitude of subplugins? WTF. Gutenberg was definitely step in right direction, but this shit is far from it.
Maybe, Matt should be prioritizing this instead of #MattVsWpe bullshit.
#UX #CMS #webdev #bestpractices #mess #fail #wp @WordPress

Maybe we are witnessing end of Wordpress as the largest market share CMS.
#wordpress #MattVsWpe #WPEngine #community #cms #openweb

A view from a different angle of the recent Automattic situation: https://zeldman.com/2024/10/04/i-stayed/
#automattic #wordpress #wpengine #MattVsWpe

We need collective action. Otherwise, we have no power.

I propose a boycott of Automattic products.

#WordPress MUST NOT be burned down from the whims of an out-of-control leader.

Just because Matt is at war with Silverlake. I'm not at war with anyone! Well maybe Trump and MAGAts. But on the WordPress/Web dev side. I'll keep using WordPress.

Would I like Matt to step aside from the open source project? YES YES YES!

Will he? Nope. Because it's an ego thing.

Right now Matt and Silverlake are comparing dick size. This isn't going to end well. Or at least is going to burn a lot of green. And I'm not talking about Weed.