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My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

aldavigdis.dev

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Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#51

Post by sgdfhijfgsdfgds »

aldavigdis wrote: post #49
sgdfhijfgsdfgds wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. WordPress is Windows for the Web, basically. More enjoyable to develop for, IMO, but otherwise the comparison holds. I would add that other PHP-based projects have had severe maintainability crises, poorer clarity of design, even worse code quality crises (Joomla, for example), major fallings-out and multiple forks (Joomla again). WordPress got this far in part because it managed inevitable community fallings-…

I would go as far as saying that PHP has developed into a very good OOP programming language in the past years (from C with dollar signs to something more Java like). Frameworks like Laravel and their ecosystems are actively using modern PHP and utilising the newest PSR standards. The issue is how WordPress seems to be stuck in the ways of the mid-2000's. You can be a "senior full stack" developer in the WordPress ec…

> You can be a "senior full stack" developer in the WordPress ecosystem but you'll hit a wall once you start applying for more general PHP roles as everything from the standard coding style to how classes and namespaces are used are worlds apart.

I once taught someone to make this jump, who was convinced he would never be able to. It is definitely a mindset change but I think a good developer can do it. Especially since these days, class and namespace stuff and Composer dependencies are increasingly common in plugin development.

I love Laravel (especially with Lighthouse) but I think the hooks/actions model in WordPress is underrated in its simplicity and appropriateness for the task.

(I am not a fan of the standard WP coding style, TBH)

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#52

Post by aldavigdis »

LordAtlas wrote: post #6

Judging from this post, it seems there are lots of regulatory holes in the way Automattic operates in the EU. Mullenweg needs to be careful that the eye of the EU doesn't turn its gaze towards him and his company, or he could be in some trouble. But I can't say I'm surprised by his belief that he only answers to US laws and jurisdiction.

I would argue that his recent behaviour warrants Automattic (and WordPress, as its dependence) being classed as a Designated Gatekeeper by the EU Commission under the Digital Markets Act.

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#53

Post by aldavigdis »

sgdfhijfgsdfgds wrote: post #51
aldavigdis wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would go as far as saying that PHP has developed into a very good OOP programming language in the past years (from C with dollar signs to something more Java like). Frameworks like Laravel and their ecosystems are actively using modern PHP and utilising the newest PSR standards. The issue is how WordPress seems to be stuck in the ways of the mid-2000's. You can be a "senior full stack" developer in the WordPress ec…

> You can be a "senior full stack" developer in the WordPress ecosystem but you'll hit a wall once you start applying for more general PHP roles as everything from the standard coding style to how classes and namespaces are used are worlds apart. I once taught someone to make this jump, who was convinced he would never be able to. It is definitely a mindset change but I think a good developer can do it. Especially si…

100%! I made the journey myself after finally getting an honest feedback of a coding challenge I did for a job application, but I do think that my own background in other languages and frameworks helped.

I do worry about the thousands of people out there that have no other marketable skill than WordPress and are not going to climb out.

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#54

Post by aldavigdis »

ahumanoverhere wrote: post #39
bullenweg wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jetpack the plugin does not send end-user data home, only Jetpack the paid service does that, the customer base of Jetpack is small. If a plugin's theoretical access to user data is enough to cause GDPR responsibilities for the developer that would have broad ramifications across the world of open-source, as code written by some developer in their free time is being used by every company.

This is factually incorrect. Jetpack, even the free version, sends all sorts of data over to Automattic. Automattic has access to the details of any site running Jetpack. This may have changed with the shift to modularized separate plugins but prior to 2022, there was a ton of data being sent to Automattic.

I think you still need the sync to happen to use any of the modular plugins.

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#55

Post by aldavigdis »

ndheebebe wrote: post #4

> Also that WP Engine was not actually providing WordPress because they were limiting a single resource-heavy feature. As if WordPress.com hasn’t been going even further in providing a limited WordPress experience since the beginning. I was thinking the same thing! > This means that many of the people who work for Automattic are technically external contractors despite acting on behalf of the company, holding busines…

Author here. The US/CA statues of limitations are also extremely short compared to what I am used to, so I was too late for to perform any legal action over this stateside after I recovered somewhat from all of this. (There may be a way to go against the EU subsidiaries, but I'm not doing it alone.)

(Anyway. Matt. If you're reading this, then I've seen you've been very generous with your checkbook for the past couple of weeks. I am open to burying the axe to a certain extent but that would require paying for estimated unpaid overtime and on-call hours, providing proper compensation for keeping me for almost a year on a trialmattician contract and destroying my mental and financial well-being among other things. You know how to find me. If not, I'll see you in Brussels.)

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#56

Post by [deleted] »

nikdoof wrote: post #32
LordAtlas wrote: post #6

Judging from this post, it seems there are lots of regulatory holes in the way Automattic operates in the EU. Mullenweg needs to be careful that the eye of the EU doesn't turn its gaze towards him and his company, or he could be in some trouble. But I can't say I'm surprised by his belief that he only answers to US laws and jurisdiction.

The mention of the self-employed employees could be interesting to HRMC in the UK, if they are skirting around IR35 it could end up with them being handed a large tax bill. Also their UK branch is called "MINISTRY OF AUTOMATTIC"... really.

[deleted]

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#57

Post by [deleted] »

aldavigdis wrote: post #52
LordAtlas wrote: post #6

Judging from this post, it seems there are lots of regulatory holes in the way Automattic operates in the EU. Mullenweg needs to be careful that the eye of the EU doesn't turn its gaze towards him and his company, or he could be in some trouble. But I can't say I'm surprised by his belief that he only answers to US laws and jurisdiction.

I would argue that his recent behaviour warrants Automattic (and WordPress, as its dependence) being classed as a Designated Gatekeeper by the EU Commission under the Digital Markets Act.

[deleted]

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#58

Post by [deleted] »

aldavigdis wrote: post #52
LordAtlas wrote: post #6

Judging from this post, it seems there are lots of regulatory holes in the way Automattic operates in the EU. Mullenweg needs to be careful that the eye of the EU doesn't turn its gaze towards him and his company, or he could be in some trouble. But I can't say I'm surprised by his belief that he only answers to US laws and jurisdiction.

I would argue that his recent behaviour warrants Automattic (and WordPress, as its dependence) being classed as a Designated Gatekeeper by the EU Commission under the Digital Markets Act.

[deleted]

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#59

Post by xwowsersx »

I'm attempting to move my blog from WordPress to Ghost. There's a WP plugin for exporting to Ghost. The zip format wouldn't work, only the json one did, but now I'm missing images :( Anyone have experience exporting from WP and importing to Ghost?

Re: My experiences with Automattic: Part 3

#60

Post by aldavigdis »

csomar wrote: post #35
briandear wrote: post #16

Can someone explain the whole drama of all of this? I have heard of “Wordpress” and I have heard of “WP Engine” and I have heard that .com and .org are apparently not the same thing. But other than that this feels like walking into someone else’s family argument halfway through it. I don’t know what “side” to be on, nor what those “sides” even are.

I think this is the first instance of a big "open source company" where it's getting competed by another company using its very own product. That's essentially the gist of it. Matt/Automattic made WordPress and (ehm) using open source as a distribution strategy. WPEngine is trying to profit from the product (the license does permit it). As they got too big, Matt now wants to get them out of the market.

Matt didn't "make" WordPress. He started the project, which was based on another piece of software, with his friend Mike and now thousands of people have contributed to it in one way or another.

I actually doubt there's much left of Matt's own code besides some of the crap that should be removed, such as hello.php.

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