I can’t believe I have to write any of this, because I am a web designer and front-end developer, and I am not typically in the business of writing about internet drama, but here we go:

In the past two weeks, WordPress’ founder and owner, Matt Mullenweg, has seemed intent on burning down the platform. The situation is evolving, and I am not an analyst or a lawyer, so this is not in full detail, but here is the important context:

Matt Mullenweg is the cofounder of WordPress.
WordPress is open-source software. Anybody can use it, anybody can fork it, and no payments are necessary to use the software. It’s free. It doesn’t matter who uses it or why they use it or what they use it for.
WordPress now powers an estimated 40% of websites across the internet. It is the de facto standard for making websites.
Matt is also the sole owner of wordpress.org, which is a non-profit whose purpose is to nurture the open-source WordPress software.
Matt is also the CEO of Automattic, which is very much a for-profit company. They own some apps and services you might have heard of, including Tumblr, Day One, WooCommerce, and WordPress.com.
WordPress.com is a hosting platform for WordPress sites. You may already be doing some mental logistics and have some alarm bells going off: this is obviously a conflict of interest.

Quick recap, in case that last point doesn’t make sense to you: Matt Mullenweg, the cofounder of WordPress (the software), which powers 40% of the web, also owns the for-profit company that owns the hosting platform named after the open-source software.

This is confusing, and Matt and his company benefit greatly from that confusion.

Now that you have the basics in mind, on to the drama:

Matt decided to go nuclear on WP Engine, which is a WordPress hosting platform and a competitor to WordPress.com. He has accused them of not contributing enough to the WordPress platform, considering how much money they make off it.
This is somewhat true, but also not entirely true, because WP Engine does make (or has acquired) several tools that are important for WordPress developers. They make Advanced Custom Fields, which is one of the most popular plugins for WordPress, and one that I used on almost every site I ever made on the platform. They also make local development tools that make it much easier for programmers to do their jobs. Neither the WordPress foundation or Automattic make similar tools.
Matt demanded WP Engine pay Automattic, his for-profit company, either 8% of their revenue, or allow their engineers to spend 8% of their time contributing to the open-source WordPress software.
WP Engine refused, because WordPress (the software) is open-source. Contributing to open-source software is a nice thing to do if you rely on it, but it is far from a requirement.
Matt then made stuff up about how WP Engine is infringing on the WordPress trademark. He added retroactive clauses about the trademark to WordPress’ licensing agreement. He claims that WP Engine’s name confuses people into thinking that WordPress is involved with WP Engine. (Also, his nonprofit conveniently grants a license to Automattic so they can have Wordpress.com without infringing on the license. As I have already noted above, Matt benefits from this confusion.)
Matt also claims WP Engine butchers WordPress by disabling revisions, while Wordpress.com offers butchered versions of WordPress that lack plugin and theme installation to everyone who doesn’t pony up for the most expensive hosting plans. (The hypocrisy is staggering.)
Matt turned off WP Engine’s access to the WordPress plugin repository, preventing their zillions of customers (an estimate on my part) from updating critical infrastructure. This is an actual problem, because WordPress is a big old ball of spaghetti, and a huge attack vector for bad actors.
Pressable, which is yet another WordPress hosting company that Automattic (Matt) owns, offered a promotion to help migrate people from WP Engine to their service.
WP Engine sued Matt.
Matt has since found new ways to escalate this drama, including my personal favourite, which is suggesting that Automattic finds a way to buy out WP Engine, or that they build Advanced Custom Fields into WordPress itself, all in the name of screwing over his competitor.

There is a lot more detail to this than what I have described here. If you’re interested, I highly recommend reading Josh Collinsworth’s blog post on the topic. He’s been keeping it up to date for the past couple weeks, and I suspect he will continue to do so for some time. (Josh, if you happen to read this: big fan. Love your site. It’s gorgeous. Cheers.)

I write all this to add my own two cents:

This is, in my mind, a death knell for WordPress. I haven’t recommended WordPress for years, because Gutenberg was one of the worst product fits I’ve ever seen. But even if I wanted to recommend WordPress to my clients, how would I do that now? “You should totally use this open source software that’s controlled by a temperamental guy, who’s a little off his rocker, who might just turn off your host’s access to critical infrastructure for your site.” That’s never going to fly.
Open-source software is free. WP Engine has not broken any rules. If Matt doesn’t like it, he doesn’t have to make WordPress open source.
WordPress, so long as it is controlled and owned by Mullenweg, is open-source in name only at this point. I think most people should vote with their dollars and get out, if they can.
I don’t like WP Engine. If you had asked me about them before September, I would have told you they treat their employees poorly and are a Big Corporate Host who have a profit-over-people-and-customers mentality. Now I am defending them, because Matt Mullenweg is a big meanie. I have a long memory, as do many other professional developers, and I will not forget this.

No one platform, person, or company should power 40% of the internet. If you’re about to start a web project, don’t use WordPress. Vote with your wallet. If you own a WordPress site, consider migrating off the platform (especially if it’s almost time for a redesign).

Finally: Matt Mullenweg has to go if WordPress is to survive. (Since Matt has been dramatic about this and is taking everything very personally, this is not a death threat. I just mean he shouldn’t be CEO, or the sole owner of the foundation. This point is probably obvious to everybody except Matt Mullenweg.)

Hero photo by Fikret tozak on Unsplash.

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