After WordPress  ## Metadata - Author: [[Morten Rand-Hendriksen]] - Full Title: After WordPress - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - #OpenSource - #WordPress - #CommunityGovernance - #Leadership - #CorporateInfluence - #WordPressFuture Author: Morten Rand-Hendriksen Source: [Morten Rand-Hendriksen's Blog](https://mortenrand-hendriksen.com) Reference: N/A date created: {{date:2024-12-28}} {{time:14:00}} --- # Title: The Future of WordPress: Time for Change ## Table of Contents: - [📝 Summary](#summary) - [📖 Main Content](#main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#notes) - [📖 References](#references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#methodology) - [❓ Questions](#questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#future-research) - [💡 Implications](#implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) Assessment](#deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#darvo-analysis) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#conclusion) ### References: [Morten Rand-Hendriksen](https://mortenrand-hendriksen.com) ## 📝 Summary: Morten Rand-Hendriksen critiques the current state of WordPress, highlighting the control exerted by its leader, Matt Mullenweg, and the resulting challenges for the community. The article discusses the systemic issues, such as governance and the growing commercialization of the platform, and proposes two potential futures for the WordPress ecosystem. Rand-Hendriksen advocates for a shift in leadership and a reevaluation of the project’s governance to prevent further decline. ## 📖 Main Content: Rand-Hendriksen addresses the central issue in WordPress: its leadership, particularly the control held by Mullenweg, which prevents equitable governance. He suggests that WordPress, once a community-driven open-source project, has become more focused on corporate interests and profitability. Rand-Hendriksen proposes two potential paths: one where Mullenweg releases control and the community takes charge, or a new platform is built, separate from the current WordPress project. The article stresses the need for sustainable governance and community-driven change. ### 🗒️ Notes: - **Central Issue**: Matt Mullenweg holds absolute control over WordPress, stifling community governance. - **Historical Context**: Rand-Hendriksen's departure from WordPress in 2019 due to ethical and governance disagreements. - **Community and Commercialization**: The commercialization of WordPress has created inequities, with some contributors being paid while others remain unpaid volunteers. - **Governance Proposal**: A new system for governance, with elected representatives and an advisory role for Mullenweg, to foster transparency and equitable decision-making. - **Future Directions**: Either Mullenweg loosens control for a more community-driven future, or a new platform is developed based on lessons learned from WordPress. ## 📖 References: [Morten Rand-Hendriksen](https://mortenrand-hendriksen.com) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. *Original*: "The community must take active steps to change the status quo if they want to see a different future for WordPress." *Paraphrase*: "The future of WordPress depends on the community's active involvement to drive change and reshape its direction." 2. *Original*: "WordPress could have evolved into a modular system, but the project’s core philosophy of being everything to everyone prevented that." *Paraphrase*: "Instead of being a one-size-fits-all platform, WordPress could have thrived as a flexible, modular system, but its all-encompassing approach hindered this." ## 📰 Newsletter: **WordPress Community Update** Is WordPress at a crossroads? Morten Rand-Hendriksen’s latest article delves into the central issue facing the platform: leadership and governance. The project, once a beacon of open-source collaboration, has seen its core values erode due to corporate interests. Rand-Hendriksen proposes two futures: one where Matt Mullenweg loosens his grip on the project and embraces a more inclusive governance model, or a bold new platform is built. It’s time to rethink WordPress’s future—join the conversation and explore what’s next for the web. [Read the full article here.](https://mortenrand-hendriksen.com) ## ✅ Action Items: - **Aligning with Career Focus**: The issues raised align with my focus on open-source sustainability and governance. As a Developer Advocate, I can use this as a case study to promote better governance structures in the open-source community. - **Engagement**: Engage with the community through webinars or meetups to discuss governance models and how to improve inclusivity within WordPress. - **Visibility**: Share Rand-Hendriksen’s proposal and research through WordPress educational channels to foster awareness and discussion on the topic. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: 1. Open-source projects with centralized control face increasing challenges in community participation and sustainability. 2. Shifting to a modular system within an open-source project would increase its adaptability and longevity, responding better to evolving user needs. ### 📊 Methodology: - Survey WordPress contributors to gauge opinions on governance and the direction of the project. - Conduct case studies of other successful open-source projects with decentralized governance to compare structures. ### ❓ Questions: - How can community-driven governance prevent the monopolization of power within open-source projects? - What would a modular WordPress look like, and how could it compete with modern platforms? ### 🔮 Future Research: - Explore how the commercialization of open-source projects impacts their governance and long-term viability. - Study the effectiveness of new governance models in large-scale open-source communities like WordPress. ### 💡 Implications: - The findings could reshape how open-source projects are structured, potentially moving away from centralized leadership to more distributed and equitable models. This could influence policy decisions within other open-source communities. ## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: **Readability**: The article is moderately complex but written in a clear and direct style. 1. **Visual Learners (Spatial)**: - **Present**: The article’s structure is clean and easy to follow, but lacks diagrams or visual aids. - **Improve**: Adding flowcharts or infographics to explain the governance structure and proposed changes could improve engagement. 2. **Aural Learners (Auditory-Musical)**: - **Present**: There is no audio content provided. - **Improve**: Consider providing an audio version or podcast summary of the article to reach auditory learners. 3. **Verbal Learners (Linguistic)**: - **Present**: The article is rich in examples and detailed explanations. - **Improve**: Adding more real-life case studies or personal stories could enhance understanding for verbal learners. 4. **Physical Learners (Kinesthetic)**: - **Present**: The article provides actionable suggestions but lacks interactive elements. - **Improve**: Include actionable tasks or workshops for readers to engage with and apply the ideas presented. 5. **Logical Learners (Mathematical)**: - **Present**: The article provides clear logical reasoning and proposes solutions. - **Improve**: More data-driven examples or problem-solving exercises would appeal to logical learners. 6. **Social Learners (Interpersonal)**: - **Present**: The article encourages community involvement and discussion. - **Improve**: Incorporate links to forums or discussions for social learners to engage with others. 7. **Solitary Learners (Intrapersonal)**: - **Present**: The article encourages personal reflection on WordPress’s future. - **Improve**: Include journaling prompts or self-assessments to help solitary learners process the content individually. 8. **Naturalistic Learners**: - **Present**: The content touches on broader societal impacts but does not specifically reference nature or the environment. - **Improve**: Introducing nature- - Document Tags: [[matt mullenweg]] [[wordpress]] [[wpdrama]] [[wp engine]] - Summary: Today, the head of the WordPress Open Source Project Matt Mullenweg unilaterally locked the gates to wordpress.org, the central service powering the community that for the past 20 years has been presented as a commons but was in actuality his personal website. - URL: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/after-wordpress-morten-rand-hendriksen-mkvgc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via  ##### Morten Rand-Hendriksen ###### Tech Educator | Keynote Speaker | Pragmatic Futurist | Critical Writer | Neurodivergent System Thinker | Dad Today, the head of the WordPress Open Source Project Matt Mullenweg unilaterally [locked the gates](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress%2Eorg%2Fnews%2F2024%2F12%2Fholiday-break%2F&urlhash=3QWN&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block) to [wordpress.org](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwordpress%2Eorg&urlhash=mP1g&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), the central service powering the community that for the past 20 years has been presented as a commons but was in actuality his personal website. This comes after months of chaos in the community rooted in a [legal spat between Mullenweg, his for-profit hosting company Automattic, and rival hosting company WP Engine](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Einc%2Ecom%2Fdfreedman%2Fmatt-mullenweg-wordpress-wp-engine%2F90994969&urlhash=yx9J&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block). The number one question I've heard and read from people within and outside WordPress for the past 3 months is this: "What do we do now?" In this article I want to share some thoughts publicly that I've been sharing privately for years. I hope what follows sparks reflection and conversation, and leads to more clarity and direction for everyone involved. #### Preamble: Personal disclosure "Didn't you leave WordPress years ago? Why are you speaking up now?" I contributed to WordPress in various capacities for more than a decade. I ran an enormously successful Meetup group, organized several WordCamps, spoke at countless Meetups and other events, wrote articles and books, helped other write articles and books, published themes, worked on various official teams, filed tickets and helped resolve others, and published video courses about WordPress watched by millions of people around the world. I walked away from the WordPress Open Source Project in 2019 due to irreconcilable disagreements around governance, ethics, and community equity between Mullenweg and myself. My professional and personal interests have since shifted to other spaces and ideas and I will not return to the project nor contribute to it now or in the future. "And yet you've been tweeting about this, and you're writing this article..." I am, for two reasons: 1. What happens to WordPress impacts the web. 2. What happens to WordPress impacts people. I don't consider this article, nor anything I've said about WordPress since December 2019 contribution to the project, but rather contribution to the world around the project. That's my view. You can disagree. It's honestly irrelevant. Bottom line for this current context: I have no vested personal or professional interest in WordPress today or in the future, and I have neither intention nor will to involve myself in whatever happens next with the project. Do with this information what you will. It is yours now. #### Part 1: Hard Truths I'm going to be super direct here: ##### Mullenweg won't budge I don't see any scenario where Mullenweg hands over control over [wordpress.org](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwordpress%2Eorg&urlhash=mP1g&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), the WordPress trademark, or anything related to the two. In an extreme hypothetical scenario where he is compelled by a court to hand over control, I would be zero percent surprised if he deleted everything rather than give up control. I also don't see any scenario where Mullenweg gives the WordPress Foundation or any other entity powers of governance over any aspect of the project or the community. In everything I've heard and read from him he's made it abundantly clear he believes he and he alone can steer this ship, and any leadership by committee would be an unmitigated disaster. With this in mind, I believe any plan forward that rests on Mullenweg ceding control to someone else is doomed to fail. [He pretty much spelled that out in a comment on a post by Joost De Valk published today.](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjoost%2Eblog%2Fwordpress-leadership%2F%23comment-6859&urlhash=wskp&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block) ##### Nobody is coming to save you "Look for the helpers" is a good lesson as long as we remember in most cases we ourselves are the helpers. The only way change happens in the WordPress community is if the people in the community actively work to make change happen. WordPress was built by the community, exists at the behest of the community, and whatever happens next will be because of what the community does. If you don't personally do something to change the status quo, tomorrow will be the same as today, and so will the next day, and the next. The WordPress trademark and website may belong to Mullenweg, but the value of WordPress is the community, and when the project starts going against the values of the community, it's time to make change happen. That work has already begun with the [WP Community Collective](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ethewpcommunitycollective%2Ecom%2F&urlhash=1LBa&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), so if you're looking for the helpers, and wanting to become one yourself, now you know where to find them! ##### WordPress is old What made WordPress magical in the early 2000s was its ease of use. What made WordPress powerful was its ease of use. But ease of use in 2024 is something else. What makes people publish their content on TikTok and YouTube and Instagram and Shopify and Substack and Wix and Squarespace and Snap and Linktree today is frictionless publishing. Meanwhile, publishing a post with WordPress today introduces more friction than it did ten years ago, in large part because of the Block Editor. The "line goes up" mentality of WP marketshare is already showing signs of cracking, and for good reason: The web is evolving, and so are the people using it. Meanwhile, WordPress still acts like it's the blogging era of the early aughts. From server infrastructure to the software stack, from data architecture to UX approaches, everything about WordPress in 2024 has a layer of dust on it, and as the web-using public transitions away from websites towards platforms and personalized content streams, WP is on a direct path to slow irrelevancy. #### Part 2: What's possible As I see it, there are two paths forward for the WordPress community: 1. Mullenweg releases his iron grip on the project, brings in proper governance, creates a more equitable ecosystem economy, and steps into a role of visionary leader instead of micromanager. 2. The community organizes, takes every lesson learned over the past 20+ years, combines with a vision for what the world will need going into the next 10 years, and builds a new platform to stand on. Of these two paths, only one is open: Build something new. Which sounds daunting because it sounds like walking away and starting over. So don't do that. Instead, use WordPress in its current state as your head start, and build a new future, piece by piece, to find what works best for everyone. I believe one of the biggest issues with WordPress is it tried to be everything for everyone. I flagged this issue all the way back in 2013 because it makes no sense even back then: Rather than a monolithic platform, WP could be a core system with modular extensions to serve different needs. What prevents this today is the content blob - a data strategy abandoned long ago by every other serious player in the space. There's enough knowledge, skill, time, and funding within the existing community to build something new. The only things missing are the will to make it happen, and the coordination to get the work going. #### Part 3: The Joker What made WordPress so powerful was the open source nature of the project - everyone working together towards a common goal. What led to the conflagration the community is now experiencing was the commercialization of the project. Simply put, when WordPress became profitable, those who made the most profit needed to steer the project in ways that protected their profits, and thus its direction and decision making started looking less like that of an open source project than that of a corporate oligarchy. This chase for money and power had several erosive knock-on effects, most notably while some were allowed to make money off the project, others were not. Two examples to put this in perspective: * Some companies in the WordPress ecosystem pay full-time employees to "volunteer" their time to open source project. Meanwhile, the majority of contributors volunteer their work in addition to their jobs and other responsibilities. In a project where "decisions are made by those who show up" this creates a power inequity where those privileged by their employers to be paid for their contributions have exponentially more power than those who do not. * Some companies in the WordPress ecosystem pay their employees to organize, travel to, volunteer at, and speak at WordCamps. Meanwhile, the majority of organizers, attendees, volunteers, and speakers are paying all their expenses out of pocket. This gives those privileged by their employers an outsized influence over the events and of what people get to hear. This is systemic inequity, and the result is centralization and amplification of power. There is no good reason for this to be how it is: There could be an independent organization that collects donations from companies and uses those monies to fund developers who do not have the privilege of working for companies willing to pay for their contributions. [The WPCC was created in part to address this need](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ethewpcommunitycollective%2Ecom%2F&urlhash=1LBa&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block). There could be a funding model for WordCamps to pay for travel and accommodations for WordCamp speakers, organizers, and volunteers. The WordPress ecosystem is valued in the tens of billions, yet somehow the majority of people investing their work in the project are not only not getting paid for their work, but actively told by those who extract the most profit and power from the project that asking to be paid goes against open source principles and values. #### 4. A Path Forward There are many paths forward for the WordPress community, and from where I stand all the successful ones lead out of the project and towards something new that is built on the ideals that made the project so successful to begin with. Many people are thinking out loud and sharing their ideas of the on-the-ground work that needs to be done ([WPCC](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ethewpcommunitycollective%2Ecom%2F2023%2F11%2F15%2Fpress-release-wp-community-collective-launches-inaugural-accessibility-fellowship-with-alex-stine%2F&urlhash=z1-X&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), [Mario](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fx%2Ecom%2Fno_fear_inc%2Fstatus%2F1845204887795270134&urlhash=TmxY&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), [Joost](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjoost%2Eblog%2Fwordpress-leadership%2F&urlhash=qHxN&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), [Hendrik](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fkraut%2Epress%2F2024%2Fwordpress-isnt-wordpress-anymore%2F&urlhash=7yVK&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), [Karim](https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmarucchi%2Ecom%2Fwordpress-leadership-continued%2F&urlhash=jTP-&trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block), the list is endless) so what I'll provide is a broader framework for governance and coordination. (This, by the way, is what I proposed as part of the WordPress Governance Project in 2018, a proposal that was summarily rejected without review by the BDFL.) ##### Informed Governance with Visionary Oversight Imagine a pyramid: * At its foundation are the Users - the people who land on sites and consume their contents. * The next layer are the Creators - the people who build and maintain the sites. * Next come the Builders - designers and developers who build things for the sites (plugins, themes, sites, etc). * Then come the Contributors - designers, developers, writers, community engagers, etc who build, maintain, and manage the software and community infrastructure. * From the contributors come the Specialists - groups of subject matter experts who keep tabs on standards, best-practices, and the forward momentum of the web platform in relation to the application. * The Specialists propose projects to the Board - elected representatives from all interested parties (see below) * The Board enacts the vision of the Leader - The role Mullenweg could play if he so chooses. The composition of the Board could be as follows: * 3 representatives elected by and from Users and Admins (Ecosystem employees not eligible) * 3 representatives elected by and from the Contributors (Ecosystem employees not eligible) * 5 representatives elected by and from the Ecosystem (no single company can hold more than two seats) * 2 representatives from the Web Platform (external experts from associated groups, ie the W3C, PHP Foundation, OpenJS, etc) * 2 representatives from the Environment (people with knowledge of law, politics, and global economics) From the top down: The Leader (optional): A visionary leader who looks at the big picture and carves a path into the future. The Leader has no say in day-to-day operations and holds an advisory role. The Board: Oversees an enacts the long-term vision of the project (set out by the Leader) and is responsible for its finances. They collect funds from contributing companies, sponsorships, etc and allocates those funds to projects based on importance and need. They engage with the wider industry to form strategic partnerships and speak for the project in political and economic contexts. The Specialists: Identify issues and make decisions in their specialty areas. When in doubt, they bring their projects and proposals to the Board for further guidance. Contributors, Builders, Creators, and Users: Work on and with the application as today, flagging issues, making proposals, and contributing. For new features, destructive changes, etc, their direction is led by the Specialists, Board, and Leader. All Contributors, Builders, Creators, and Users have the right to bring any issue to the Specialists or directly to the Board for consideration. ##### "This doesn't sound like Open Source at all!" I hate to break it to you: This is pretty much how it works today, and how it has worked for a long time, with two important differences: First, Mullenweg currently holds all power and the core contributors (the Board) are appointed by Mullenweg and wield their power at his mercy. Second, there are no mechanisms for election, appointment, oversight, transparency, or recall, and the people with power tend to say they don't have any power even while exerting their power in very public ways. The ideal of flat structure governance in a project of this size is a comfortable but harmful fiction, and results in the power concentration we see today. One remedy is to make the power structures explicit and enforce transparency and accountability; to build a system where no person and no company can hold power for too long. In other words, common sense checks and balances. #### Choose Your Future I walked away from WordPress because I couldn't morally justify contributing my time and work to a project where I observed volunteer labour being systemically expropriated to the benefit of a few powerful corporations, accessibility and privacy being downplayed and their proponents ridiculed, and any talk of transparent governance or conflicts of interest in leadership led to banishment. What the community has experienced over these past 3 months was always going to happen, because it was already happening in 2019, and had started happening many years before. WordPress has been instrumental in building the web we have today, and making open source into the most powerful force on the internet. None of that would have happened without Matt Mullenweg's vision and leadership. It also wouldn't have happened without every person who visited a WordPress site, published their own, built one for someone else, created a theme or plugin, attended a Meetup or WordCamp, chatted in a forum, wrote an article, filed a ticket, contributed to core, sponsored a contributor or an event, or did any of the millions of other small things that built the web we share today. WordPress is not a name, or a piece of software, or a website, or a person. It hasn't been for a long time. WordPress is the collective spirit of the millions of people around the world who have built a community around these things. Now, each must choose: Stay with what is, accepting it won't change, or start from where you are today and build something new. What does the world need tomorrow that WordPress can't provide? Finding an answer to that question may be the spark that ends up defining the next 20 years! I'll leave that to you., After WordPress, Morten Rand-Hendriksen, 01jfmj3ky89qr7dzzt3r1kqtft.