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

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

#121

Post by Terr_ » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:10 PM UTC

weikju wrote: post #93

vram22 wrote: post #89

Looks like the word "denounce" is not used in the right sense here, at least based on what I know, and on a quick google, although it may have another meaning that matches what was intended by the writer of the article. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/denounce

Maybe the word should be : renounce? https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/renounce

Closer, but--since were already in nerdy nitpick mode here--"renounce" is like "quit" and suggests a distinct change of states. Many users will be technically incapable of "renouncing" WP Engine because they were never linked to it in the first place.

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

#122

Post by prmoustache » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:10 PM UTC

bloppe wrote: post #106

QQ00 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but what's better alternative aside from rolling your own CMS?

I've used Vitepress for little blogs before. Git is the CMS. GitHub will even host it for free. I cannot believe how much money people are will to pay for blog hosting.

I am pretty sure the core business of wordpress hosting services isn't blog anymore but all purpose brand/companies websites.

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

#123

Post by lovethevoid » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:10 PM UTC

QQ00 wrote: post #94

dylan604 wrote: post #90

This whole bit of drama really makes me glad I never invested time/energy in WordPress. It's like Real Housewives of Computer Nerds level of whining, and feels just as fake. Regardless of right/wrong, the whole thing has just turned into a 80s made for TV type of situation. There was a much better way at handling this, but somebody had access to social media and the wheels promptly fell off.

but what's better alternative aside from rolling your own CMS?

Depends on what exactly you're getting out of Wordpress and what you dislike about wordpress. But Ghost, Strapi, Payload, and Craft are all really good CMS.

When it comes to e-commerce, Shopify. Or if open source and control is important to you, Saleor.

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

#124

Post by Terr_ » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:10 PM UTC

vram22 wrote: post #89

Looks like the word "denounce" is not used in the right sense here, at least based on what I know, and on a quick google, although it may have another meaning that matches what was intended by the writer of the article. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/denounce

> The checkbox on the login page for WordPress.org asks users to confirm, “I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise.”

I think the word "disavow" is almost a perfect fit here, as in "the logon page requires users to disavow WP Engine".

> [Disavow:] to say that you know nothing about something, or that you have no responsibility for or connection with something

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/disavow

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

#125

Post by threeseed » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:12 PM UTC

jemmyw wrote: post #83

viraptor wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 8.4% of his company decided he was acting in enough bad faith No, they just took the offer. Some probably for that reason, some for other. You'd need to interview them to know their actual views.

And I very much doubt the other 91.6% are onboard with his actions. People just need their income.

Also if you are on a work visa you will be deported if you leave your job and don’t find anything in the couple of months after. Devastating if you’re a young family.

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

#126

Post by graeme » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:12 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #111

Zak wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nice thing is it's GPL, so the founder/owner can't just take his ball and go home. It's also widely-used/important enough that it will get forked if leadership problems start to make it unusable for too many people.

Isn't that essentially what caused this kerfuffle? Someone forked it and the original guy got upset about the how/why of the fork?

No, no fork at all. There may be a fork though because of how erratically the founder is behaving

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

#127

Post by EFreethought » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:13 PM UTC

unsnap_biceps wrote: post #97

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #88

“WP Engine is free to offer their hacked up, bastardized simulacra of WordPress’s GPL code to their customers, and they can experience WordPress as WP Engine envisions it" Does anyone know what the context about this is? What did WP-Engine change which Matt disliked? As I understand they were disabling page revision history (but would enable it if you asked) and only because they had some other proprietary to wp-engi…

Per https://wordpress.org/news/2024/09/wp-engine-banned/ and https://x.com/photomatt/status/1838502185879167069 I believe that WPEngine disabling the admin news feed that displayed his posts directly to WPEngine's customers was the tipping point for calling it a hacked up, bastardized simulacra

I run a couple of WP instances on a shared hosting service (not WPEngine), and honestly I have no need for the admin news feed. If I knew how to turn it off I would.

That is a weird thing to get upset about.

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

#128

Post by onehair » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:14 PM UTC

iamronaldo wrote: post #74

I spoke to matt and he seemed nice enough to me so for me its weird to see such a radical stance from him on something like this

I'm sorry. His facial expressions and ways he answers questions paint a very shady picture when he talks on this topic.

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

#129

Post by rKarpinski » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:14 PM UTC

But why is this all blowing up now ?

Private equity (SilverLake) bought WP Engine in 2018 and presumably the company has not been paying a trademark licensing fee far longer.

[1] https://ma.tt/2024/09/wordpress-engine/

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

#130

Post by inlined » Wed, Oct 09, 2024, 10:15 PM UTC

Do you want antitrust investigations? Because this is how you get antitrust investigations.

Wordpress is nearly half of the Internet. There’s a pretty compelling argument that Matt is using his market power to prevent competition in violation of the Sherman act.