Automattic CEO and WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg published a post last week entitled, “Holiday Break,” outlining his plans to pause several free services currently being offered on WordPress.org including:
- New account registrations
- New plugin directory submissions
- New plugin reviews
- New theme directory submissions
- New photo directory submissions
Mullenweg wrote:
“As you may have heard, I’m legally compelled to provide free labor and services to WP Engine thanks to the success of their expensive lawyers, so in order to avoid bothering the court I will say that none of the above applies to WP Engine, so if they need to bypass any of the above please just have your high-priced attorneys talk to my high-priced attorneys and we’ll arrange access, or just reach out directly to me on Slack and I’ll fix things for you.”
“I hope to find the time, energy, and money to reopen all of this sometime in the new year. Right now much of the time I would spend making WordPress better is being taken up defending against WP Engine’s legal attacks. Their attacks are against Automattic, but also me individually as the owner of WordPress.org, which means if they win I can be personally liable for millions of dollars of damages.”
He ended the post by sarcastically soliciting donations to fund “legal attacks against me” by encouraging readers to sign up for WP Engine hosting services.
I honestly don't know what to say about Mullenweg's actions anymore. Basically Mullenweg is holding WordPress hostage until he gets his way — which he wont, because he's legally and ethically in the wrong. The world asked for Tony Stark and we instead got Elon Musk and Matt Mullenweg.
Joost de Valk, creator of the popular SEO plugin Yoast, published an editorial piece entitled, A vision for a new WordPress era, in which he outlined the best course of action for the community to move forward.
Valk's ideas included creating an independently governed WordPress foundation to lead the open source project, led by a board of industry folks with diverse backgrounds, and turning over all of “Matt's private property” like the WordPress.org domain and other community assets to the foundation.
He isn't the first person (and won't be the last) to recommend this pathway forward for WordPress, but it's certainly impactful to hear it from a big name in the industry like Joost, as it helps the ideas get momentum.
Mullenweg responded to Valk's post with the following comment:
“I think this is a great idea for you to lead and do under a name other than WordPress. There’s really no way to accomplish everything you want without starting with a fresh slate from a trademark, branding, and people point of view.”
Valk replied:
“Which of these things are impossible in your view within WordPress?”
But Mullenweg did not respond.
Merry Christmas, Matt.