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Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

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Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#61
post #8

Is there really nobody in the Wordpress.org organization who can provide a check on this kind of behavior? Or do they really collectively share this Matt character’s attitude toward professionalism?

"Matt Mullenweg: 'WordPress.org just belongs to me'":

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262232/matt-mullenweg-w...

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#62

This is incredibly troubling; I cannot see myself ever using Wordpress going forward. It is just too risky.

What's the risk? You own the code, and you aren't pre-committed to updating to any new versions in the future. You can just take it and use it on your own forever. Many people do. What's their risk?

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#63
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't Wordpress open source? WPE is under no obligation to contribute source code or money. If WP is unhappy with the outcome, they should have released their product under a different license.

How would you feel about Google if they used things like Linux and never contributed anything to open source? As the most profitable entity in the WordPress space, WPE has a duty to give something back. What Matt is asking for isn't unreasonable.

That’s the point of the license WordPress is developed under - WPE, in fact, does not have a duty to give anything back.

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#64

I fully expect a WPE-backed fork before anything is in court.

They won't need to fork WP itself (though they're totally free to do that, WP started as a fork after all), but it sounds like they may need to quickly focus on creating their own plugin and theme marketplaces, and other services that WordPress.org provided to WordPress CMS users but is not denying to WPEngine.

Let this be a lesson to all of us - if you rely on a service provided by another organization external to your organization, get an SLA! Get a contract that guarantees you the provision of services you depend on.

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#65
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't Wordpress open source? WPE is under no obligation to contribute source code or money. If WP is unhappy with the outcome, they should have released their product under a different license.

How would you feel about Google if they used things like Linux and never contributed anything to open source? As the most profitable entity in the WordPress space, WPE has a duty to give something back. What Matt is asking for isn't unreasonable.

WP.org should add this to their license then:

>"it's free but only until the project owners deem you too successful and then you'll have to pay 8% of your revenues to support the project".

https://world.hey.com/dhh/automattic-is-doing-open-source-di...

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#66
post #62

This is incredibly troubling; I cannot see myself ever using Wordpress going forward. It is just too risky.

What's the risk? You own the code, and you aren't pre-committed to updating to any new versions in the future. You can just take it and use it on your own forever. Many people do. What's their risk?

> What's the risk? You own the code, and you aren't pre-committed to updating to any new versions in the future.

This isn't a static website we're talking about — WordPress is probably one of the most attacked web software in the world given its footprint.

WordPress doesn't do LTS releases or backports either.

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#67
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't Wordpress open source? WPE is under no obligation to contribute source code or money. If WP is unhappy with the outcome, they should have released their product under a different license.

How would you feel about Google if they used things like Linux and never contributed anything to open source? As the most profitable entity in the WordPress space, WPE has a duty to give something back. What Matt is asking for isn't unreasonable.

I wouldn’t mind because that’s what Linux agreed to when they chose the GPL route.

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#68
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you feel about Google if they used things like Linux and never contributed anything to open source? As the most profitable entity in the WordPress space, WPE has a duty to give something back. What Matt is asking for isn't unreasonable.

WP.org should add this to their license then: >"it's free but only until the project owners deem you too successful and then you'll have to pay 8% of your revenues to support the project". https://world.hey.com/dhh/automattic-is-doing-open-source-di...

I am very erratic on agreement with DHH's screeds, but this one hits the mark.

Among all the more visible issues with this whole situation, he calls out a few things that I think need more awareness:

1. Matt decries Private Equity as leeches and freeloaders on free software, open source, and their community.

2. Automattic invested in WPE in the early days. In fact, Silver Lake, the PE firm that owns WPE, bought Automattic's share! Automattic sold to PE.

3. The WP Foundation has three members, two of whom show any sign of activity: Matt himself, and another person that Matt personally appointed who is... drum roll... the Managing Partner of a Private Equity firm.

Somewhat ironic for someone who shit talks their competitors and Private Equity so vocally.

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#69
post #64

I fully expect a WPE-backed fork before anything is in court.

They won't need to fork WP itself (though they're totally free to do that, WP started as a fork after all), but it sounds like they may need to quickly focus on creating their own plugin and theme marketplaces, and other services that WordPress.org provided to WordPress CMS users but is not denying to WPEngine. Let this be a lesson to all of us - if you rely on a service provided by another organization external to y…

> if you rely on a service provided by another organization external to your organization, get an SLA! Get a contract that guarantees you the provision of services you depend on.

Getting "takers" to pay for SLAs/licences is pretty much what Automattic or whoever's behind WordPress dot org wants.

Re: Wordpress.org Login: "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way"

#70
For fun, I just tried to create an account and used WPEngine.com as my email domain.

I got the following error: "You cannot use that email address to signup. There are problems with them blocking some emails from WordPress. Please use another email provider."

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