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Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

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Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#111

Post by nperez »

gustavorg wrote: post #27

After reading all these comments, I started to worry and even panic because it seemed to me that I was on the wrong side. HN, which side are we on?

The preamble of the GPLV2 begins with: "The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. "

I don't think Matt should ever be required to provide the live services of wordpress.org, but as for WP Engine, the license is supposed to be free for them and that's pretty clear.

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#112

Post by semi-extrinsic »

therealdrag0 wrote: post #107
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Planning to set up a new customer-facing website next year, and there is 0.0% chance that it will be based on WordPress, even though several of our existing websites are WP.

What will you use instead?

Probably Wagtail.

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#113

Post by claudiulodro »

nperez wrote: post #111
gustavorg wrote: post #27

After reading all these comments, I started to worry and even panic because it seemed to me that I was on the wrong side. HN, which side are we on?

The preamble of the GPLV2 begins with: "The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. " I don't think Matt should ever be required to provide the live services of wordpress.org, but as for WP Engine, th…

That's Matt's whole argument, no? That anyone can grab it from e.g. Github, but he's not compelled to provide access to the wordpress.org servers or the WordPress trademarks under the GPL.

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#114

Post by altairprime »

bookofjoe wrote: post #92
altairprime wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My working theory is that investors are pulling up ladders now that interest rates are VC-unprofitable, and so either he finds a way to increase growth in profit y-o-y or they bail and let him crash like TypePad did years ago. (Except TypePad had paying customers, so their bandwidth bills weren’t anywhere near the looming threat WP is presumably facing.)

I've been with Typepad for my blog since 2004 and though it's clunky and glitchy, it still works!

Yeah, exactly! No reason for it to collapse into ashes like the Wordpress “I dream of ruling an ecosystem by refusing to charge money” plans will, even if certainly as an old thing it’s old.

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#116

Post by JumpCrisscross »

belorn wrote: post #99
nolok wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't need that much better lawyer to begin with. You just can't come out an say straight up "I'm doing this specifically to screw company X", which is what Matt did, essentially. Eg Apple is kinda screwing with Spotify and claim it's their general rules, and it's a long complicated case. But if Apple came out and said "yeah, we do this specifically because we don't like Spotify and to hurt them in particular",…

That is a much better description than practically every other take I have seen on this issue. The legal issue is not about removing access, pulling the rug, or changing policy. It is all about the intention and making public statements. If they wanted to legally stop WPE from accessing their servers then adding a policy to the effect of limiting how much traffic a single company is allowed to do without a explicit c…

> The legal issue is not about removing access, pulling the rug, or changing policy. It is all about the intention and making public statements

It’s absolutely about both. If Apple kicked Spotify off the App Store right after launching Apple Music, we’d have a better comparison.

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#117

Post by evanelias »

altairprime wrote: post #114
bookofjoe wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been with Typepad for my blog since 2004 and though it's clunky and glitchy, it still works!

Yeah, exactly! No reason for it to collapse into ashes like the Wordpress “I dream of ruling an ecosystem by refusing to charge money” plans will, even if certainly as an old thing it’s old.

You might want to visit https://www.typepad.com/pricing as a logged-out user, and read the entire pop-up (which has been present for 4 years now) before saying that...

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#118

Post by nperez »

claudiulodro wrote: post #113
nperez wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The preamble of the GPLV2 begins with: "The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. " I don't think Matt should ever be required to provide the live services of wordpress.org, but as for WP Engine, th…

That's Matt's whole argument, no? That anyone can grab it from e.g. Github, but he's not compelled to provide access to the wordpress.org servers or the WordPress trademarks under the GPL.

Not a lawyer but my opinion is the law shouldn't be used to compel anyone to provide unpaid services. With that said, I still think it's terrible for the community. If other package repositories like npm, PyPI, and others decided to randomly block people over grudges, it would create a lot of dysfunction. The consequences should come in the form of Matt no longer being reputable as a provider of services to the community

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#119

Post by Kwpolska »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #49
pluc wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WordPress.org is way too big to be a one-man show. I am absolutely certain that Mullenweg has nothing to do with plugin or theme validation, account creation or even packaging new WordPress versions, but also certain that he can tell his employees what to do. Hell, all of that should be automated by now. He wouldn't be able to do any of that with volunteers that aren't operating under his authority.

> WordPress.org is way too big to be a one-man show Big productions still have a director. The point is Mullenweg--not Automattic--has control.

Automattic is basically Matt Mullenweg, Inc. — not much difference there.

Re: Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions

#120

Post by johannes1234321 »

notfooled wrote: post #6

Does he really believe he can convince people that the Matt Mullenweg who owns wordpress.com is a different Matt Mullenweg from the Matt Mullenweg who owns wordpress.org? They even look the same.

How are those two Matts related to the one running the Foundation?
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