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ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

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Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#81

Post by lolinder »

jeltz wrote: post #34

It is insane how Matt once again seem totally unable to understand the difference between Autoamattic and the WordPress Foudnation.

The WordPress Foundation doesn't own WordPress.org. As far as I can tell it basically only owns the WordPress trademark, which it immediately turned around and gave away to Automattic in an exclusive license for unclear consideration.

WordPress.org, and therefore the entire plugin repository, is owned by just Matt and maintained by a division within Automattic. The .org-ness of it was just a smokescreen all along.

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#82

Post by tacon »

FireBeyond wrote: post #71
jeltz wrote: post #34

It is insane how Matt once again seem totally unable to understand the difference between Autoamattic and the WordPress Foudnation.

The challenge is that this drama seems to be unmasking the reality that for the past decade or more, Matt has grown used to referring to Automattic, WP.com, WP.org, and the WPF interchangably and synonymously. Concerning is not just the things he's said, but what he has done that go along with this. Self-dealing? Improper tax accounting?

In the Reddit megathread on the recent drama, someone posted a summary of the IRS responses to inurement by the Board of Directors of a non-profit. It isn't pretty! [1]

If there is insider inurement, the IRS fine is directed to the Board of Directors (each one of them, however many) for 25% of the value of the benefit. If they do not pay in a timely manner, the bill is 200% of the inurement. Matt is the ultimate insider, "giving" the valuable trademarks to the foundation and then getting to use them for free, while leaning on other companies to pay millions. So the insider inurement is in the millions of dollars, per year, for years. Those two unknown board members of the WordPress Foundation? I hope they have great tax lawyers!

[1] https://www.mercadien.com/resource/steep-penalties-for-exces...

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#83

Post by andix »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #13
denislour wrote: post #3

Wow, this is a big deal. Matt Mullenweg taking over ACF like that? Not cool. It's not just about messing with years of hard work, but think about all those WordPress sites now running code the ACF team didn't approve. Kinda scary when you think about it. Hope this doesn't become a trend in the open-source world.

And this is different from WP Engine modifying Wordpress exactly how?

WP Engine modified their own WordPress installations.

WordPress.org modified third party WordPress installations.

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#84

Post by RadixDLT »

maxbond wrote: post #18

To me this is indistinguishable from an account takeover attack executed by an insider. I doubt any prosecutor would be interested, but to my eyes WordPress.org has violated the CFAA by accessing WordPress instances outside the bounds of their authorization. They were authorized to modify WordPress instances in ways ACF prescribed, not in ways of their own choosing. I'm not saying I'd like to see Mullenweg in chains,…

people will move to drupal

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#85

Post by [deleted] »

marpstar wrote: post #77
didgeoridoo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough. My info might be a little out of date from my web agency chop shop days, but I do recall that for essentially any substantial site it was assumed from day 1 that it would involve an ACF install. Probably integrated it into… fifty(?) websites over the years. I don’t recall the value prop of Pro, and I actually don’t think I ever touched it myself.

Biggest value prop of Pro (for me, anyway) was the Repeater field, which lets you add a collection field. I don't think GP's distinction of "websites that make money" == "online stores" is accurate or meaningful. I use ACF on every website, my clients are money-making businesses. Only a couple of them are running WooCommerce (and those are running ACF as well). Nothing about running a business on WordPress makes WooC…

[deleted]

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#86

Post by ValentineC »

lolinder wrote: post #79
dmje wrote: post #46

Long time WordPress agency owner here. At the heart of this - if you consider it generously - is a principle that we can possibly all sign up to, namely that "large commercial entities" should (should from a moral, not legal standpoint) "pay back" to the open source software that makes them money. The principle however has been totally undermined by MM's actions, which have been completely out of line. His behaviour…

The irony of this move is that his main argument to keep people on his side over this has been that WP Engine has not been contributing. He's been saying over and over that he's doing this because they're not giving back. Now, when he's already failed to bring the community on board with his attacks, he decides that his next move is to make a big show of stealing something that had he done nothing many people would n…

> Now, when he's already failed to bring the community on board with his attacks, he decides that his next move is to make a big show of stealing something that had he done nothing many people would not have realized was a WP Engine property, with the net effect of reminding people that WP Engine has been responsible for maintaining what is widely considered to be the most essential plugin in the ecosystem.

> But that doesn't count as giving back because... reasons.

I haven't used WordPress in years, but I've seen recent comments saying that WP Engine has been using ACF to market their hosting packages, even giving customers a "4 month trial" — not something a hosting provider really wants to see.

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#87

Post by arielcostas »

andix wrote: post #69

I guess the only way forward for now is forking WordPress and creating a new plugin registry. This should be rather easy, because all WordPress plugins are GPL-licensed because of the Copyleft. I don't care about the current dispute, but wordpress.org can't be trusted any more.

Creating an open registry would be nice, or even for developers to be able to host their own repos for others to install plugins from (à la Linux package managers), to avoid such centralisation.

Ideally, those repos would be hosted by each party, and then hosting providers would be able to host their own mirrors containing many packages for all the installs, giving a similar experience to what is now offered by Mr. Mullenweg's WP.org.

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#88

Post by arielcostas »

throw16180339 wrote: post #78
jeltz wrote: post #34

It is insane how Matt once again seem totally unable to understand the difference between Autoamattic and the WordPress Foudnation.

There isn't an actual difference. He uses both of them as he sees fit.

Wait, and the IRS is happy with all that? With an individual using company resources for what would appear to be "personal" activity outside the company? Same with the foundation?

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#89

Post by LamaOfRuin »

maxbond wrote: post #58
btown wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO it's also notable that Mullenweg is in this state of mind and also has access to Tumblr data, with a history of allegedly doxxing the relationships between anonymous user blogs based on non-public information [0]. One doesn't need to agree with the moderation decision, or take sides on the political context around it, to understand that there is a tremendous amount of centralized power here, that norms are going…

In hindsight this should've been all the warning anyone needed. In the future, when a BDFL telegraphs that they're willing to abuse their powers like this, we need to fork immediately. Open source is more important than any single project or any single BDFL. We can't allow open source to appear risky or unreliable relative to proprietary software, subject to the whims of volatile personalities. Open source is kind of…

Companies don't, as a rule, do this in software either. They make projects open source or contribute to open source projects because it's good for them. This is just as true in other industries. This is how every industry standard and protocol or similar works. It is beneficial to the participating companies and does not threaten them.

Re: ACF Plugin no longer available on WordPress.org

#90

Post by sharphall »

didgeoridoo wrote: post #74
btown wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should be the top comment. It's already scary for a package manager to take control of a community package, even more so when sites auto-update to new code... but to break existing sites by completely changing the code that is provided in an auto-update is beyond the pale. Not a lawyer, but I imagine many consultancies will be talking to lawyers about this one; there are entire sections of law about interfering…

“Advanced Tortious Interference”

"Secure Tortious Interference"
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