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Matt Mullenweg, Automattic's CEO, Seems Bound and Determined to Wreck WordPress (digitalcxo.com)
82 points by CrankyBear 4 hours ago | hide | past | favorite | 27 comments





I'm just catching up.. can someone please explain why this part is unreasonable?

- WordPress code is open-source.

- WP Engine is entitled to use the source code.

I don't see how that entitles a for-profit entity such as WP Engine, to use the non-profit wordpress.org theme/plugin repository resources and infrastructure for free?

If you were WP Engine, wouldn't you want to have your own copy that you control anyway? Am I missing something?


Because that's how open source works. If you don't want for profit companies using code for free, then offer it under a license that states that.

It’s unreasonable because the real reason was WordPress.com looking to kneecap a competitor.

Doubly so when they tried stealing the plugin.


Wreck wordpress? doesn't seem like it -- seems like a classic "somebody pseudo forked my open-source-ish product / project and they became too popular".. so I'm going to try to prevent fragmentation / somebody else "making money off of all my hard work" kind of thing.

If you’ve followed closely, this article is a retread of the last four months.

Also will someone please fork WordPress.


It’s amazing nobody has sat him down and told him to stop throwing temper tantrums yet.

He gave severance packages to that cohort.

is there an opportunity to make a vendor neutral Wordpress here?

Just can't call it Wordpress. So Locutionprinter or something.

WP is a fork of b2/cafelog. So b3/bistrolist?

(There’s also b2evolution.)


Termjuicer

VerbalCompressor?

EDIT to add:

SentencePublisher

TokenStream

IdeaRadio


Well I didn't just register that domain, but sure..

When you’re as rich as he is what difference does it make?

Funny thing is his net worth is almost entirely tied in Automattic, and he is doing his very best to crater the company's value.

His sense of self importance and relevance seems to be especially crucial to him. He is losing both.

I'm trying to figure out what's the most loving thing to do for a person in his situation.

I've done my best not to pathologize him here, but...

Suggest therapy.


I think it's to try to help them by offering compassion, understanding, and trying to create harmony.

Try to look at it from an outside perspective instead of through the lens of our own preconception. Humans are subject to making terrible mistakes and lapses of judgment. Sometimes things spiral out of control. We all have our demons, so to speak.

It's very easy to judge a tech multimillionaire bro and saying he should know better, he deserves this, etc. And I mean easy as in cheap. It's the prevailing view and it feels "fair" to a lot of people who didn't get so lucky or so far ahead in life, so they don't feel the need to be sympathetic. But it adds no value to the situation, so it's a pretty useless take. And it's not like the world has a limited supply of sympathy, so it's OK to offer it even in these situations.

At this point I think the guy just needs help.


If you’re a relative or friend, take them aside and have a frank conversation. If not, nothing you can do!

And accept that there’s a good chance this will accomplish nothing but getting you on their naysayers list.

People can continue behavior where all they really need to do is stop actively harming themselves for no gain at all for years. It’s bizarre to watch from the outside. In the best cases they haven’t roped anyone else into their delusion-bubble.


Ego doesn't go away just because you made a bunch of money.

If anything, experience suggests it's the opposite.

Functionally infinite money seems to just not be enough in life for a lot of people. I honestly think if they weren't powerful it would be considered a serious mental illness.

Couldn’t have said it any better, thank you.

I've heard speculation that he as VCs driving him to make money and this is causing all the crazy behaviour.

That could also lead someone to blow the hatch.



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