Highlights from Matt Mullenweg’s Spiciest Word Camp Presentation at WordCamp US 2024 – WP Tavern
The extremely anticipated Q&A session with Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp US kicked off with him stating, “This may be certainly one of my spiciest WordCamp shows ever.” He opened the session by studying his latest article, WordCamp US & Ecosystem Thinking, set in opposition to the backdrop of jazz music. Matt then used the analogy of the “Tragedy of the Commons” to debate the significance of 5 for the Future. He additionally addressed his cryptic tweets and warned concerning the potential risk of personal fairness hollowing out and undermining open-source communities.
Key Factors from the Q&A Session
This may be the final Phrase Camp you see WP engine have a sales space at.
– Matt Mullenweg
Matt mentioned that many of the info he’s about to share within the presentation has come from WP Engine staff who reached out to him. WPEngine is managed by Silver Lake a Personal Fairness Agency that in Matt’s phrases “doesn’t give a dang about your open supply beliefs it simply needs return on Capital.”
He went on to debate the destiny of different corporations Silver Lake has acquired. In 2010, they purchased 25% of Talend and proceeded to monetize its open-source person base, ultimately producing 20x returns over seven years. Silver Lake additionally purchased 5% of Unity for $400 million and raised costs drastically, resulting in a number of CEO adjustments and the rise of the open-source different, Godot Sport Engine.
Silver Lake, valued at $102 billion, additionally owns WP Engine, however Mullenweg criticized the corporate for contributing little to the WordPress neighborhood’s “5 for the Future” initiative. He referred to Lee Wittlinger, the Managing Director of Silver Lake, as “a schoolyard bully” and introduced that WP Engine would now not be allowed at future WordCamps.
Mullenweg provided to return the $75,000 WP Engine had paid to be a Tremendous Admin Sponsor and in addition accused them of misusing the WordPress trademark. “WP Engine appears like WordPress, and their colours are even just like WP’s blue. There’s model confusion.”
What we create together is bigger than any one person.
– Matt Mullenweg
Matt admitted he didn’t want to make the presentation but felt compelled to speak out against bad actors. “The only way to fight a bully is to fight them back. If you just allow them to run rampant on the playground they’re just going to keep terrorizing everyone.”
Mullenweg explained that he had attempted to discuss increasing WP Engine’s contributions, but after receiving no positive response, he felt it necessary to call them out publicly. He encouraged users to consider switching to hosts that actively contribute to WordPress when their WP Engine contracts are up for renewal. He also emphasized that WP Engine employees are not at fault and that he supports those who speak out about their company’s lack of participation in the WordPress community.
Mullenweg also shared some exciting developments for WordPress, including upcoming Google Docs-like collaboration features. He stressed the importance of software licenses, likening them to the Constitution, as they guarantee freedom. Additionally, he expressed his pride in seeing WordPress adopted by the U.S. Army and the federal government.
A fan of AI, Mullenweg advised developers to explore AI-assisted tools like Cursor and also promised to honor Jessica Lyschik’s Speed Build Challenge.
The video of Matt Mullenweg’s Q&A session at WordCamp US is now accessible on YouTube.
Section 2 – Matt’s Subsequent Steps
Matt’s statements on the WordCamp session have been only the start. He then adopted up the assault on WP Engine by publishing WP Engine is not WordPress in WordPress.org. Certainly one of his main criticisms was that WP Engine is the one WordPress internet hosting supplier that disables revisions by default.
He didn’t mince phrases, stating, “What WP Engine provides you shouldn’t be WordPress, it’s one thing that they’ve chopped up, hacked, butchered to seem like WordPress, however really they’re supplying you with an affordable knock-off and charging you extra for it. This is without doubt one of the many causes they’re a most cancers to WordPress, and it’s necessary to keep in mind that unchecked, most cancers will unfold.”
“WP Engine is setting a poor commonplace that others might have a look at and suppose is okay to duplicate. We should set the next commonplace to make sure WordPress is right here for the subsequent 100 years.”, he continued.
He then launched a Twitter poll asking the neighborhood if WP Engine must be allowed to have a sales space on the subsequent WordCamp, and the bulk voted in favor of WP Engine’s continued presence.
Response From WP Engine
In response, WP Engine published a blog post titled Highlighting Over a Decade of Innovation and Contribution to the WordPress Community. In it, they detailed their contributions to WordPress, together with sponsoring WordCamps, organizing instructional occasions like DE{CODE}, and empowering the WordPress neighborhood by content material just like the WordPress Roundup and Building WordPress collection. In addition they highlighted their merchandise like Faust.js, WPGraphQL, Headless WordPress platform, Native, Superior Customized Fields (ACF), and Genesis Blocks.
Nevertheless, WP Engine didn’t deal with any of Mullenweg’s particular accusations. They concluded their put up by reaffirming their dedication to WordPress, saying, “WP Engine’s dedication to WordPress and its passionate neighborhood is unwavering…WP Engine will stay on the forefront, discovering new and thrilling methods to drive the WordPress ecosystem’s success for years to come back in partnership with this vibrant, revolutionary neighborhood.”
Neighborhood Reactions
Matt Mullenweg’s feedback sparked intense debate inside the WordPress neighborhood, leaving it shocked and divided. Whereas some rallied behind Matt, even going as far as to cancel their WP Engine subscriptions, others have been uncomfortable together with his strategy.
Rodolfo Melogli, founder of Business Bloomer tweeted, “I don’t suppose a CEO ought to assault folks/corps based mostly on private opinions, irrespective of if proper or incorrect. Not good for the WordPress ecosystem tbh.”
Nate Finch, writer at Stage Up Tutorials suggested, “So far as I do know, there isn’t any requirement that any firm that sponsors a WordCamp be concerned with 5FTF, let solely hit a sure threshold. If that is so, and possibly it must be a requirement, it must be added to the sponsor settlement for WordCamps.”
“It’s not sufficient to offer companies and merchandise and advertising and marketing at WordCamps; when you’re making hundreds of thousands of {dollars} off WordPress I feel all of us can agree you actually need to contribute some actual exhausting worth again into it.”, mentioned Seth Rubenstein of Pew Analysis Middle.
Hendrik Luehrsen, CEO of Luehrsen // Heinrich was worried, “Together with his latest remarks, @photomatt might have simply killed the #FFTF program. It’s a troublesome promote to take care of public profiles on a platform that may be weaponized in opposition to somebody – deserved or not.” Nevertheless, Matt assured that his objective is to boost consciousness of the 5FTF initiative.
“You’ll be able to’t actually promote the advantages of open supply after which moan when corporations construct on that free platform and monetize it.” tweeted WPTuts.
WPHercules printed WordPress.com is not WordPress as a parody countering WP Engine shouldn’t be WordPress. They level out that “plugin extensibility is sacred,” however WordPress.com restricts plugin set up in lower-priced plans.
Andrew Palmer, in The Complex Dynamics of WordPress: A Passionate Critique, identified Matt’s problem letting go of sure points, which at occasions contradicted his personal WordPress philosophy. He beneficial elevating different leaders inside the WordPress neighborhood to assist stability decision-making and guarantee clearer steering and recognition of contributions.
Kevin Geary’s WordPress’ Big “Tragedy of the Commons” Problem shares, “The issue is that Matt is placing a massively necessary mission, and our future, within the palms of a traditionally failed mannequin. Among the smartest minds in economics have arrived at one other apparent conclusion when tackling the Tragedy of the Commons drawback: owned land is healthier cared for than public land as a result of it advantages the personal proprietor to guard and take care of it.”
He suggests, “WordPress must be pushed by a correct funding mannequin, a correct visionary, a constant core improvement crew, and constant advertising and marketing.”
James Giroux analyzed Matt’s actions as a Undertaking Lead in WCUS: Freedom Isn’t Free. “Matt is the Undertaking Lead, and he has a observe report of calling issues out in a direct, and typically uncomfortable method…I feel it’s fairly hypocritical to say that Matt is imply or a bully whereas additionally saying issues like “it’s as a result of Matt needs Automattic to win” or “it’s as a result of Matt doesn’t like rivals to Automattic”.
One other scorching matter was the model confusion Matt highlighted between WP Engine and WordPress. Robert DeVore pointed out that extra persons are confused by WordPress.org vs WordPress.com than by WordPress vs WP Engine. Daniel Schutzsmith additionally shared his experience with a consumer who confronted the identical confusion.
Discussions are going down on Reddit too.
Pantheon & GoDaddy – Then & Now
Matt’s criticism of corporations shouldn’t be new. Some of the memorable incidents came about the night time earlier than WordCamp US 2016 when Pantheon’s $100K sponsorship was abruptly revoked. Their promotional supplies, together with their sales space, have been stashed away in a storage room, and the sponsorship charge was later refunded in full.
Quick ahead to this 12 months’s WordCamp, and Pantheon returned as an Editor Sponsor alongside Automattic. Courtney Robertson of GoDaddy tweeted: “Wild how we’re all speaking about @wpengine and never the elevator doorways from Pantheon sponsored. I wish to know extra about requirements altering.”
In 2022, Matt identified GoDaddy as a “Parasitic Firm” and an “Existential Menace to WordPress’ Future”. And this 12 months, the exact same GoDaddy was a Tremendous Admin sponsor. They sponsored Courtney Robertson for Contributor’s Day and allotted $2,000 for eight self-funded Desk Lead contributors. Matt even talked about their contributions in his Ecosystem Pondering article.
(This concludes Half 1. Keep tuned for Half 2.)
