Forking Is Beautiful
wordpress.orgNobody uses just core WordPress. The moat is the plugin ecosystem. Once somebody creates an alternative plugin repository mirroring wp.org, that's when Matt will go "nuclear".
It could be misdirection. Maybe I'll wait for the fork Matt doesn't like.
You said in 1 line what I spent a bit writing in 30 lines, kudos
You're giving him way too much credit seeing how much he sucked at extorting people lol
The post this leads to just reeks of influencer/devrel marketing-speak. Show something then be cocky about it, not the other way around. And how can Automattic be convincingly 'proud to announce' this fork, when this fork literally doesn't currently exist? There's no plan, no code, no difference, nothing to show for. Just this cringe ass announcement.
I saw a theory yesterday proposing a 'reason' for all this: Matt wants out and is trying to force a community fork by going scorched earth.
After this post, that theory seems kind of plausible? But who knows, really.
As I said to Matt earlier today on the WordPress Slack "I've never seen anyone spread so much FUD about their own project before. I started out as sympathetic to your cause against WP Engine. But your behaviour has driven me - and many other good people - away. I want to be explicitly clear: I am in no position to judge the merits of your lawsuit, but I am in a position to judge your behaviour. I cannot fathom why you are trying to turn your own community against you. Please - reconsider your approach"
BDFL only works if the D is B. Otherwise FL becomes FML.
I still have no idea why people think that he's a dick for not giving away his trademark. The code is GPL, the trademark is the only thing of Wordpress that he really owns. He should withdraw permission whenever he feels like it, especially when it's most financially useful to him. If taking away the usage of the mark sabotages an unfriendly competitor, he should do it.
Forking is beautiful, but WPE should do it somewhere else, like this FreeWP person.
I'm pretty sure everyone should be grateful for "WP." Didn't he say that using those two letters was fine? Everybody still gets to trade on Wordpress's goodwill, even if they can't use the full name. And if the company goes belly up, the community gets the full name. I've been struggling to see the other perspective.
The lawsuit claims are hysterical. I hope he doesn't give an inch. I hope it serves as a warning to others. I hope FreeWP is successful, and I don't know why anyone who isn't an employee or owner would care if WPE continues successfully or unsuccessfully. That's between Automattic and WPE. I certainly don't care that they can't advertise themselves as "Wordpress."
Feels a bit tongue in cheek given current events, but good on Matt for sticking to values here.
A bit?
I'm not entirely sure I've read anything on the internet which should be interpreted in exactly the opposite manner as how it's written.
It's like one of those PR-speak statements about a mass layoff where the CEO (but really a team of PR wonks) waxes poetic about how difficult it is for him to lay off parts of the company, but, this one doesn't even have the benefit of running through the PR-speak machine.
> good on Matt for sticking to values here
What other option does he have? Wordpress is GPL, he couldn't legally stop a fork if he wanted. I assume using the power of Automattic he could try to lawfare a fork out of existence but it would be obvious what he was trying to do.
Matt has demonstrated that one of his core values is vindictiveness, inability to receive feedback and huge ego that has destroyed a decade of goodwill in a few weeks.
Based on how I learned about his personality, I have to agree. Until this point, I've never seen a tech CEO follow one of their users to a different social network to continue an argument.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/22/tumblr-ceo-publicly-spars-...
Hmm, the user was a lunatic who made violent threats and then was spreading misinformation about their ban, which in turn was getting picked up by lazy journalists. What did he do wrong here?
He followed one of his users to a different social network and started posting private information about them
He knows where the real value lies. (Hint: It's not the code.)
Yes... but it's also furthering the idea of WordPress as his project, not the community-built foundation it's frequently described as.
Seems like ego speaking here.
100%. This fits the narrative of "my way or the highway" Matt has been pushing (unintentionally or not).
Funny.
What a complete shitshow - who on earth would trust starting a new project using Wordpress after this.
So, all the comments here talking about lawsuits and FUD and scorched earth and so on. How is that related to the Forking is Beautiful post?
You are all discussing something going on, but it makes no sense to anyone who isn't in the know.
What are you all talking about?
It adds important context to the post. Imagine Vladimir Putin wrote an op-ed explaining how beautiful Riga is in the summer and how he would encourage everyone to visit Latvia. On its own, that's a famous guy encouraging tourism in the Baltics. In context, it might suggest something very different.
I get that there is some important context here - I just can't make out what it is! Hence the question.
Probably the simplest answer would be this search:
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastMonth&page=0&prefix=fa...
Thanks!