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Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

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Re: Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

#21

Post by arp242 »

replete wrote: post #14

The founder of an open source project he founded should step down because you don't like his opinions? He's allowed to be pissed off that some other company is profiting without contributing back. Developing the single most popular website framework is not without cost. Don't like his paid service? Don't use it!

> He's allowed to be pissed off that some other company is profiting without contributing back.

Reading Matt's post, it's not my impression that he's really pissed about that – that seems more like an additional (less important) aside.

His core complaint is, paraphrased, "WP-Engine offers WordPress hosting, but all they offer is a bowdlerized version of it, which reflects badly on all of WordPress. So I'm pissed about it because I spent a lot of time and money on WordPress and I care about it a lot".

This sort of thing comes up every now and then in different contexts. A few months ago the Debian developer decided to offer a bowdlerized version of KeepPassX and was then excessively abrasive and rude about it when people complained. At the core, this is the same kind of disagreement/conflict.

All of that only amplifies your "he's allowed to be pissed". I'd probably be slightly more careful in my use of language, but I'd be pretty cross too.

Certainly doesn't seem like a resigning issue. The hell is up with that?

Re: Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

#24

Post by arp242 »

rpgbr wrote: post #5
blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #4

This is a really basic blog post and it doesn’t make any kind of convincing argument for the provocative title. Towards the end it says: > I really like WordPress, as I’ve stated many times, but Matt has become an irresponsible and damaging actor. He urgently needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership, or he risks undermining WordPress’ popularity and driving the community away. But it makes at best, a really w…

Author here. The main issue at play is that Matt used the blog of a GPLv2 project to attack a competitor of his own for-profit venture for playing by the rules — disabling revision posts is an official and documented WP feature. The point is: if Satan themselves decides to use and make a profit off based on WordPress, he is allowed as long as they follow GPLv2, which is the case with WP Engine. (Satan as an alternati…

> he is allowed as long as they follow GPLv2, which is the case with WP Engine.

Unless I missed something, no one claimed it's not legal.

There are lots of things that are legal but nonetheless not nice.

Just because it's legal doesn't mean you can't say "that's not nice" or "you shouldn't be doing that".

"It's legal" is not an argument here. It's completely besides the point.

Re: Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

#25

Post by yunohn »

FireBeyond wrote: post #19
yunohn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s fair for the creator of the product (WP) to criticize competition that undermines a feature he considers important to him. He also makes a very important point about WPEngine not contributing back to the AGPLv2 codebase you are talking about.

> I think it’s fair for the creator of the product (WP) to criticize competition that undermines a feature he considers important to him That his own product ALSO gates access to, unless you pay the top tier for? I don't think it's fair to criticize the competition for that, and not acknowledge that you do the same, no.

How is it gated on Wordpress.com? Here are the docs:

https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/

Re: Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

#26

Post by nullindividual »

nchmy wrote: post #18
joshstrange wrote: post #3

> Additionally, it’s also ironic (hypocritical, I’d say) for him to complain about the lack of post revisions as something that undermines WordPress, while Automattic offers WordPress without access to plugins and all themes in its basic hosting plans, and makes Jetpack, a Trojan horse to upsell features (even the basics, like… stats), mandatory for all users. It's absurd that they gate so many features behind their…

No one should be using any of the big wordpress hosts - theyre all overpriced garbage. Its so damn easy to get a WP site up and running with a decent and cheap VPS server and a cloud panel (e.g. runcloud, xcloud, enhance, spinupwp, gridpane, etc...). Some even have a free tier. Cyberpanel is even a free option, though clunky. For a rounding error of blog traffic which can probably be fully cached in cloudflare CDN, y…

It’s the maintenance of the software that gets tiring. Constantly keeping up with updates and security patches. That makes SaaS attractive.

Re: Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

#27

Post by rifty »

joshstrange wrote: post #10
rpgbr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried SSGs? For simple blogs, like mine (blog post author), it's so good: easy to maintain, to understand, and to manage. Way less features than a proper CMS, but for a simple blog they are enough. I use Jekyll, btw.

Yeah, I played with SSGs a while back. I like them overall and might go in that direction again but I really enjoyed the WYSIWYG-type post-writing interface. Bottom line I got lazy. I wanted a way to publish some words that was easy and didn't send me down a programming hole every time I touched it (which I acknowledge is more of a "me" thing than a SSG-thing).

Maybe you want to look into running wordpress locally and exporting it as a static website? Or alternatively using something like https://getpublii.com/

Re: Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

#29

Post by rpgbr »

arp242 wrote: post #24
rpgbr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. The main issue at play is that Matt used the blog of a GPLv2 project to attack a competitor of his own for-profit venture for playing by the rules — disabling revision posts is an official and documented WP feature. The point is: if Satan themselves decides to use and make a profit off based on WordPress, he is allowed as long as they follow GPLv2, which is the case with WP Engine. (Satan as an alternati…

> he is allowed as long as they follow GPLv2, which is the case with WP Engine. Unless I missed something, no one claimed it's not legal. There are lots of things that are legal but nonetheless not nice. Just because it's legal doesn't mean you can't say "that's not nice" or "you shouldn't be doing that". "It's legal" is not an argument here. It's completely besides the point.

He is allowed to say that, but not in the project's site, less alone without a previous discussion with the community which, AFAIK, didn't happen.

Re: Matt Mullenweg needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership ASAP

#30

Post by camgunz »

rpgbr wrote: post #5
blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #4

This is a really basic blog post and it doesn’t make any kind of convincing argument for the provocative title. Towards the end it says: > I really like WordPress, as I’ve stated many times, but Matt has become an irresponsible and damaging actor. He urgently needs to step down from WordPress.org leadership, or he risks undermining WordPress’ popularity and driving the community away. But it makes at best, a really w…

Author here. The main issue at play is that Matt used the blog of a GPLv2 project to attack a competitor of his own for-profit venture for playing by the rules — disabling revision posts is an official and documented WP feature. The point is: if Satan themselves decides to use and make a profit off based on WordPress, he is allowed as long as they follow GPLv2, which is the case with WP Engine. (Satan as an alternati…

I don't understand who's being hurt here. Are you asking me to feel sympathy for a private equity company?
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