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Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

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Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah so WP Engine will just proxy the Wordpress plugin search results and cache the top plugins on their end. That’s a lose in this case for Automattic if that’s his suggestion then why even block WP Engine customers in the first place?

https://thenewstack.io/the-wordpress-saga-does-matt-mullenwe... > “I think a fork would be amazing,” he told TNS. “They should fork WordPress, because what they offer is not actually WordPress. They call it WordPress, but they really screw it up.” Yeah, part of the confusion here is Matt's unreliability as a narrator of his motivations. He wants WP Engine to fork, but then he asks them to pay. He wants Wordpress to g…

And WP Engine could fork and call it Wordpresss. That’s also a lose for his tirade. I bet his expensive lawyer wouldn’t tell him that though.

All I’m learning is that never elect Matt as POTUS because he always wants to go nuclear to teach a lesson to a small percentage of the population.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm saying that WordPress is incredibly widespread, far more than I think most tech industry people realize. The average WordPress site builder doesn't know or care who Matt Mullenweg is or what open source means. WordPress is just the simplest way to make a usable website – and has been for the last 20 years, almost.

Okay I get that but I’m discussing people that don’t self host or need more than the basics. Those are the users affected by Matt’s action. For example, our site repos only include the site theme we deploy to WP Engine, so our stack is essentially Wordpress, not WP Engine Wordpress. All the WP Engine stuff is handled once deployed invisible to us. So when we log in we expect Wordpress features. Yes there are a lot of…

They don't need to be loyal, they just need to be lazy, lazy enough to not want to learn a new technology and spend money + time switching to it. They won't move on to another CMS, because they don't care about WordPress tech industry drama and they don't know who Matt Mullenweg is. WordPress will continue to work just fine for them and they will continue not caring about an issue that will be forgotten about in a month. The vast, vast majority of people using WordPress think of it as an old, reliable, simple way to make a website, and nothing more.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#313
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that's why they are hiring an "Associate General Counsel"?

That’s really not the right way to hire a lawyer you need right now . Probably not the right way to hire a lawyer at all, frankly. How does he expect a junior attorney to help him at all, especially one who is depending on him for his paycheck?

> That’s really not the right way to hire a lawyer you need right now.

> Probably not the right way to hire a lawyer at all, frankly.

> How does he expect a junior attorney to help him at all, especially one who is depending on him for his paycheck?

Most large companies outsource the bigger stuff and anything non day-to-day (like trademark enforcement and litigation) to law firms.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay I get that but I’m discussing people that don’t self host or need more than the basics. Those are the users affected by Matt’s action. For example, our site repos only include the site theme we deploy to WP Engine, so our stack is essentially Wordpress, not WP Engine Wordpress. All the WP Engine stuff is handled once deployed invisible to us. So when we log in we expect Wordpress features. Yes there are a lot of…

They don't need to be loyal, they just need to be lazy, lazy enough to not want to learn a new technology and spend money + time switching to it. They won't move on to another CMS, because they don't care about WordPress tech industry drama and they don't know who Matt Mullenweg is. WordPress will continue to work just fine for them and they will continue not caring about an issue that will be forgotten about in a mo…

I bet they know someone who cares and all a switch takes is “hey I found this other cms just as easy as wordpress to setup and it’s less confusing to manage”. Yes there will be people who will never switch, but there are also people that do the advising to those people. If you’re not technically inclined you probably have someone you keep around that IS technically inclined, no?

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#315
post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks to me like passive aggressive lynch mobbing. Putting the issues aside, you seem to be doing a good job not letting the comments that charge you with medical and psychological issues get to you. Figured I'd throw at least one positive comment your way.

“passive aggressive lynch mobbing” maybe, just maybe, you are overstating

I don't care about wordpress or this situation. I may be, just maybe, being too generous. Somehow people feel it's proper to question someone's sanity, provide armchair legal advice, and even suggest carbon monoxide intake is involved. Maybe people should be a little self aware of their critiques of others. Maybe.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I am. I’m not spinning anyone. Several of my friends took the offer, they were unhappy, it was great timing. I support them 100%.

[flagged]

When I got laid off from DISH that kind of talk was all I saw on anon forums that had discussions about it. That was 5 years ago and last I heard they were being bought out.

It is much easier for humans to rationalize hardships around them as something they can control. Nobody can control a monkey suit's decisions, specifically when they exhibit the emperors' new clothes type of issues. This is before you get into any of the usual resentment relationships that occur when companies restructure around their own self interest.

Try not to let the anon vitriol get to you. I understand that's quite a ridiculous thing to ask someone when their job/career is on the line.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

They stopped engaging because you seem either unwilling or incapable of understanding the difference between personal attacks and criticism of an artifact. To try and take the emotion out of it, it's the difference between saying "I am tired" versus "this comment I wrote makes me sound tired"

What personal attacks are you referring to? There are no personal attacks found anywhere in this thread, nor would there be any logical reason to bring emotions into it at all.

But perhaps I have failed to understand what you are trying to say? Such is the trouble with communication.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#318
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you an employee? I’ve seen a bunch of comments like this on various forums. Is Matt telling his employees to spin the folks who left? Edit: it seems like he is. Wow.

What’s the problem here? This is a common scenario in every company out there. I was in the same exact position myself 3 years ago.

When it happened to me I was surprised to see what was being commented. There was nothing about the actual business decisions that led to the exodus, it was just vitriol about anyone who left was an imposter and now finally the real engineers can get to work.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#319

I'm really surprised that we don't have term limits for CEO's of companies. Since they occupy power positions, all top power positions should have term limits. That would fix a lot of problems in our societies.

The CEOs/Corpos have way more representative power than any real person these days since bribery is legal. I'm surprised this isn't a common issue being raised all the time; well besides the lack of civics education in general.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't need to be loyal, they just need to be lazy, lazy enough to not want to learn a new technology and spend money + time switching to it. They won't move on to another CMS, because they don't care about WordPress tech industry drama and they don't know who Matt Mullenweg is. WordPress will continue to work just fine for them and they will continue not caring about an issue that will be forgotten about in a mo…

I bet they know someone who cares and all a switch takes is “hey I found this other cms just as easy as wordpress to setup and it’s less confusing to manage”. Yes there will be people who will never switch, but there are also people that do the advising to those people. If you’re not technically inclined you probably have someone you keep around that IS technically inclined, no?

In my experience, it's more that a small webdev company runs these sites and the client pays $50-200/month to maintain it, maybe do a little SEO, etc.

To recreate the site in another CMS will cost hundreds of more dollars, at minimum, (probably thousands, realistically) and even then: what CMS are they switching to that's easier to use and has as wide a variety of plugins as WordPress? Because I'm not sure that CMS exists.

So the conclusion is: why switch? WordPress is perfectly fine for these people.

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