Matt Mullenweg temporarily shuts down some Wordpress.org functions (opens in new tab)

I’ve been chatting to my partners about this, and we aren’t planning to deploy anything net new on WordPress indefinitely.

In one respect it’s a shame to give Matt that power. On the other hand, I can’t control that he’s showing his ass, and I’m not risking my business or client deliverables on an unstable ecosystem.

It's run entirely by Mullenweg. The Board is clearly unable to have a big-boy conversation.

Part of the case is that he is muddying the water on purpose and the separation in two entities is fake, and actions like this may backfire in a big way (and I'm not even talking about the taxes aspect of it at the end).

Again, I doubt any lawyer with any once of competency validated this move, let alone write it publicly like this that it's because of the legal case and WP Engine. That's very dumb. What are the lawyers supposed to say when the case will be reviewed ? Nothing to do with the case ? Reasons unrelated to WP Engine ? Their client put it in writing without even being asked to.

> If it was actually ran by volunteers, he couldn't make any of it stop... because people volunteer their time without being told what to do.

...this doesn't really follow. Just because someone is a volunteer for an organization doesn't mean the people at the head of that organization have no control over what they do. As a library volunteer, for instance, I can't just take all the books off the shelves and start building forts out of them (unless the library board is into that sort of thing).

He can't force them to show up and do things he tells them that they don't want to do, but he absolutely could stop all operations, including those run by volunteers.

Let’s not take pleasure in someone destroying their life because they don’t have the support they need.

Honestly, though, the weirdest thing to me about all of this is that corporations already behave like Matt every day, yet when a human starts doing so, we consider involuntarily removing them from society. Perhaps we ought to be less forgiving of his behaviors from the non-humans, too.

He's made his millions. He could leave wordpress completely and have a great rest-of-life. In fact, he probably should.

I knew him when he was working out of CNET's basement on 2nd st in SF, doing the initial commercialization of wordpress. I honestly don't see anything inconsistent in his current behavior with who he was back then.

IANAL but if this is execution of a court order it would be CoC if it counts as failure to follow orders to include false claims. I don't know if a judge can charge CoC for disrespect of the court when not actually in it. If an ongoing case, might get a warning to remove contravening commentary and only a CoC on failure to do so.

So either he stopped listening to the people around him (including lawyer in a legal case), or the people around him are chosen based on their ability to say yes rather than be useful.

I don't know about the ownership of Automattic to know if there is a board not doing its job either or if they can't do anything anyway.

And ultimately the legal cases "doesn't matter" grand scale, but the damage he is doing to public perception is immense. There are a bazillion marketing agencies out there being affected by his emotionnal breakdown, so if WP Engine were to put themselves in the middle as a separate, "safe" provider they might even benefit even more from the situation. People don't like it when you touch their wallet.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69221176/64/wpengine-in...

> Defendants [Matt's side] counter that a bond of $1.6 million is appropriate. Opp. at 32. They assert that “the continued maintenance and operation of the Website incurs an estimated $800,000.00 in administrative, server and developer costs per year[,]” and that allowing WPEngine to access the developer resources of the Website permits WPEngine to benefit from the distribution of its products on the Website[,] which “carries with it a separate value.”

> [...]

>In reply, WPEngine argues that if the court is inclined to require a bond, “it should be a de minimus amount, not wordpress.org’s entire budget for two years.”

> [...]

> Under these circumstances, the Court finds that any harm to Defendants resulting from the issuance of preliminary injunctive relief is unlikely, as it merely requires them to revert to business as usual as of September 20, 2024. Accordingly, the Court declines to require WPEngine to post a bond.

A man worth hundreds of millions of dollars crying poverty while throwing a months-long temper tantrum. Hilarious if you don't have any stakes at play.

Actually tempted.

He slaps the WordPress community in the face, out of nowhere, then he points at WP Engine, and says: "Isn't it a shame that these a*holes made me slap you... again?".

I'm just speculating in this whole comment, but this is how I interpret this current chapter of the drama.

Not a fan of Mullenweg either, but let's be realistic. For anyone who isn't completely detached from reality, dealing with lawsuits is draining, emotionally and mentally.

It's easy to point fingers and assume motives, but unless you're in the trenches, it's hard to truly know what's going on in someone's head. Given the circumstances, his decision to take a break isn't exactly out of the ordinary.

Most people would probably do the same if they were in his shoes.

You could like Matt and think he's basically right about freeloaders, yet you would still be horrified and absolutely powerless as you watch him shred his once-whole community into halves, then quarters, then eighths as he doubles down and doubles down some more...

The matter is that this "freeloading" is subjective as the GPL license does not really place any contribution requirements. Matt says it is about trademarks but the court stated TMs were not violated either. Dura lex sed lex, he will have to deal with it.

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.