The Wordpress Situation Is Crazy  ## Metadata - Author: [[Brodie Robertson]] - Full Title: The Wordpress Situation Is Crazy - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - #wordpress - #wpengine - #opensource Author: [Brodie Robertson] Source: [YouTube Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-imW24OXLY) Reference: [The WordPress Situation Is Crazy Transcript](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-imW24OXLY) date created: 2024-10-20 17:30 --- # Title: The WordPress Situation Is Crazy: An Ongoing Battle Between WP Engine and Automattic ## 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 Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### References: - [The WordPress Situation is Crazy by Brodie Robertson - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-imW24OXLY) ## 📝 Summary: This video outlines the escalating drama between WP Engine and Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, led by Matt Mullenweg. The dispute centers around how WP Engine markets its hosting services using the “WP” abbreviation, and how Automattic's actions, such as blocking WP Engine from accessing the WordPress plugin repo, have created widespread confusion. The conflict extends to issues of trademark disputes, legal battles, and impacts on the broader WordPress ecosystem, with both sides positioning themselves as defenders of open-source principles. ## 📖 Main Content: The ongoing battle between WP Engine and Automattic started with accusations that WP Engine is exploiting the WordPress name and branding. Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress.org, escalated the situation by banning WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org’s plugin repository. This affected users who rely on WP Engine-hosted websites for plugin updates, leading to significant disruption in the community. WP Engine, a major contributor to the WordPress ecosystem, countered these actions with a lawsuit. Automattic then offered a settlement, including a trademark licensing agreement with strict conditions, including paying royalties or contributing to core development. This forced WP Engine to develop its own mirror of the plugin repository, leading to confusion and frustration among developers and end-users. Meanwhile, the sudden takeover of popular plugins like Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) by WordPress.org without the creator's consent has raised concerns about open-source ethics. The situation has caused developers and agencies to reconsider their reliance on the WordPress ecosystem, impacting their businesses and client relationships. ### 🗒️ Notes: - **Trademark Dispute**: Automattic claims WP Engine uses "WP" in a way that confuses customers. - **Plugin Repo Ban**: WP Engine users lost access to WordPress.org’s plugin updates, causing disruptions. - **Legal Battle**: WP Engine filed a lawsuit against Automattic, further complicating the situation. - **Plugin Takeover**: WordPress.org forcibly took control of the Advanced Custom Fields plugin, renaming it Secure Custom Fields. - **Community Impact**: Developers and agencies are suffering business losses due to the uncertainty created by this conflict. - **Automattic Resignations**: Over 150 Automattic employees resigned after being offered severance packages, further destabilizing the company’s internal operations. ## 📖 References: - [The WordPress Situation Is Crazy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-imW24OXLY) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. The dispute between WP Engine and Automattic revolves around WP Engine's use of the “WP” abbreviation, which Matt Mullenweg claims confuses users into thinking WP Engine is directly associated with WordPress. Automattic’s response, banning WP Engine from the plugin repository, has created significant friction in the community, forcing WP Engine to create its own plugin mirror. 2. Automattic’s sudden takeover of the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin without consent, renaming it to Secure Custom Fields, has alarmed developers. The forced rebranding and control over user installations have left developers questioning whether WordPress.org is overstepping its role in the open-source ecosystem. ## 📰 Newsletter: 📢 **The WordPress Drama: What’s Going On Between Automattic and WP Engine?** The WordPress community is in an uproar after a trademark dispute between Automattic and WP Engine escalated into a full-on legal battle. Automattic, led by Matt Mullenweg, has banned WP Engine from accessing the WordPress plugin repository, causing chaos for developers and users alike. Popular plugins like Advanced Custom Fields have been forcibly taken over, sparking concerns about open-source ethics. WP Engine is fighting back with a lawsuit, and the outcome could have far-reaching implications for the future of WordPress hosting. Stay tuned for updates as the drama unfolds. [Read More](#). ## ✅ Action Items: This situation between Automattic and WP Engine touches directly on your focus areas: open-source advocacy, contributor engagement, and ensuring sustainability in the open-source ecosystem. It presents an opportunity to reflect on how proprietary interests and open-source principles sometimes conflict. In your role, this conflict is a perfect case study for advocacy around transparency, fair contributor recognition, and creating clearer boundaries between community-driven efforts and corporate control. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - Automattic’s actions may cause a significant shift in how contributors and developers engage with the WordPress ecosystem. - WP Engine’s legal actions could influence new guidelines for trademark usage in the open-source community. ### 📊 Methodology: - **Surveys**: Conduct surveys within the WordPress community to gather feedback on the impact of this dispute on their work and contributions. - **Case Studies**: Analyze the outcomes of similar open-source trademark disputes to predict possible resolutions. ### ❓ Questions: - How will this legal battle reshape the relationship between WordPress.org and third-party hosting providers like WP Engine? - Can Automattic maintain its position as an open-source leader while enforcing strict trademark controls? ### 🔮 Future Research: Future research should investigate how large corporations use open-source projects to their advantage, exploring both the positive contributions they make and the potential downsides of corporate influence. Additionally, studies should focus on how legal disputes around trademarks in open-source communities impact contributor trust and engagement. ### 💡 Implications: Resolving this conflict will have a significant impact on how the open-source community views Automattic’s role in the ecosystem. If not handled carefully, Automattic could alienate contributors, developers, and companies that rely on the WordPress platform, causing long-term damage to the project’s reputation and sustainability. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: 1. **Visual Learners (Spatial)**: - **Present**: The video format is highly visual, but lacks diagrams or infographics to clarify complex legal points. - **Improve**: Add flowcharts or visual timelines to better explain the progression of events. 2. **Aural Learners (Auditory-Musical)**: - **Present**: The video format caters to auditory learners with clear explanations. - **Improve**: Include a podcast or audio version for on-the-go listening. 3. **Verbal Learners (Linguistic)**: - **Present**: The language is accessible and engaging. - **Improve**: Add supporting blog posts or transcripts for deeper analysis. 4. **Physical Learners (Kinesthetic)**: - **Improve**: Provide hands-on exercises, such as mock legal scenarios, to help users understand the legal concepts involved. 5. **Logical Learners (Mathematical)**: - **Present**: The video outl - Document Tags: [[acf]] [[Matt Mullenweg]] [[wordpress]] [[wpdrama]] [[wp engine]] - Summary: Wordpress and Automattic started what was initially a fairly reasonable complaint against WP Engine but what has since turned in to an absolute mess putting the entire Wordpress ecosystem at stake. ==========Support The Channel========== ► Patreon: https://brodierobertson.xyz/patreon ► Paypal: https://brodierobertson.xyz/paypal ► Liberapay: https://brodierobertson.xyz/liberapay ► Amazon USA: https://brodierobertson.xyz/amazonusa ==========Resources========== Intial Post: https://wordpress.org/news/2024/09/wp-engine/ WP Engine Financing: https://wpengine.com/blog/wp-engine-closes-1-2m-in-series-a-financing/ WP Engine Twitter Post: https://twitter.com/wpengine/status/1840910240801316924License Agreement: https://automattic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/term-sheet-wp-engine-inc.-automattic-trademark-license_09.19.2024-1.pdf WP Engine Website: https://wpengine.com/au/ WP Engine Lawsuit: https://x.com/wpengine/status/1841643374090031461 WP Engine Login Screen: https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-login-gets-mandatory-affiliation-checkbox-following-wp-engine-disputeAllignment Offer: https://ma.tt/2024/10/alignment/ Email: https://x.com/Riley_Bruce/status/1845638102200508700 Salty Post: https://x.com/WordPress/status/1845680750210736392 ACF Post: https://x.com/wp_acf/status/1845169499064107049 Suspended Meeting: https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2024/10/12/accessibility-team-meetings-suspendedContract Loss: https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1g3rwwm/you_asked_how_were_suffering_as_a_result_of/ACF Confusion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41828958 =========Video Platforms========== 🎥 Odysee: https://brodierobertson.xyz/odysee 🎥 Podcast: https://techovertea.xyz/youtube 🎮 Gaming: https://brodierobertson.xyz/gaming ==========Social Media========== 🎤 Discord: https://brodierobertson.xyz/discord 🐦 Twitter: https://brodierobertson.xyz/twitter 🌐 Mastodon: https://brodierobertson.xyz/mastodon 🖥️ GitHub: https://brodierobertson.xyz/github ==========Cred... - URL: https://youtube.com/watch?v=v-imW24OXLY&si=COS0TsnKjBc6aX8G When this whole WordPress drama began, I wasn't actually going to cover it. At least initially, it just didn't really seem that exciting. I thought, yeah, there's some drama here, but I thought it would have blown over by now and people would have gotten over it. Oh, how wrong I was. Unlike other internet dramas which are really stupid and no one actually cares about it after like a day or so, this one has widespread implications across a lot of the internet. In case you didn't know, WordPress is kind of popular. Now, to set the stage here, this drama began, it has since expanded from just these two parties between WordPress and WP Engine. Now, much like Mozilla, when we say WordPress, this doesn't just mean a single organization. We have WordPress.org, the open source project that develops the WordPress software. There is the WordPress Foundation, the foundation that supports the WordPress software and manages things like their trademarks and things like that. There is also WordPress.com, the company that sells a hosted version of the open source WordPress software. Now, WP Engine is a third party hosting company that also provides a hosted version of WordPress. Basically, WordPress.com and WP Engine are direct competitors but are providing the exact same open source software. Now, the key party on the WordPress side is Matt Mullenweg, the CEO and founder of Automattic, the company which owns WordPress.com. He is also a co-founder of the WordPress.org project. All of this publicly began with a post over on the WordPress.org website. WP Engine is not WordPress. Nobody thought it was WordPress except, I guess, his own mother. But nobody else besides that thought they were the same thing. After spending the entire blog just tearing into them how they're such a bad company, how they shouldn't be doing what they're doing, he had some choice words to say, this is one of the many reasons they are a cancer to WordPress. And it's important to remember the unchecked cancer will spread. WP Engine is setting a poor standard that others may look at and think is okay to replicate. We must set a higher standard to ensure WordPress is here for the next 100 years. If you're a customer of WordPress Engine, which is not the way that WP Engine ever markets itself, is not a confusion that anybody actually has. You should contact their support immediately to at least get the three revisions they allow turned on so you don't accidentally lose something important. Now besides hosting the WordPress software in a way that WordPress.org and WordPress.com, which are effectively acting as the exact same organization here, think is a bad way to host it. There are two reasons that Matt had an issue with WP Engine. One of those is a lot more reasonable than the other. Firstly is the way they both give back to the project. In the case of Automattic, again, the company that owns WordPress.com, they give a lot of direct development effort to the WordPress project. Their employees directly contribute code, leading to thousands of hours done every single month. In the case of WP Engine, they are considerably smaller, but what they do is they sponsor developers to work on the project and also encourage the adoption of the WordPress platform. At least if you're asking me, both of these are completely legitimate ways to give back to a project, but importantly, it's still an open source project and you don't actually have to do so. Secondly, and this is the more legitimate case, is related to the trademark. Now, I don't think they're profiting off of confusion, but I do agree that if you have a trademark that you want to defend, they shouldn't be using the trademark. And by using the trademark, Mullenweg alleges that WP Engine is promising customers WordPress, but offering a distilled version of the service. Now, the trademark in question is the WP wordmark. What they failed to mention, though, is, um... What they used to have in their trademark policy that they only very recently updated. On the left is the original, on the right is the new policy. The abbreviation WP is not covered by the WordPress trademarks and you are free to use it in any way you see fit. Now saying the abbreviation WP is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don't use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is WordPress Engine and officially associated with WordPress, which it's not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress. This being updated during the whole battle they're having with WP Engine. What they also fail to mention is, um... Um, 2011, WP Engine closes 1.2 million in Series A financing. Who was involved in doing some of this investment? Automattic. Now, to be fair, this was during a period where Matt wasn't the CEO. So maybe you can chalk it up to that. But it's been fine all of this time. He became the CEO in 2014. It hasn't been a problem until very recently. Now, WP Engine, obviously not being very happy being called a cancer to WordPress, sent a cease and desist letter to Automattic, who then sent a counter-seasoned desist letter back to WP Engine. All of this led to WordPress.org banning WP Engine and thus WP Engine customers from accessing their plugin repo, with Matt saying, Why should WordPress.org provide these services to WP Engine for free, given their attacks on us? And whilst this is kind of a dumb way to frame it, you could have just said, Why should we have ever provided this in the first place? I do think this is a completely legitimate point. Why should you be providing free hosting for a massive company? If they want access to the plugins, they should have to go and make their own mirror. This in my mind is totally fine. It's kind of a dick move to suddenly cut it off. And thus it was later rescinded, giving WP Engine until October 1st to create their own mirror or resolve the rest of the conflict, which the rest of the conflict didn't get resolved. They just want to make their own mirror. And posting on Twitter, we are pleased to report that our solution has been fully developed and regular workflow practices have been restored to our customers around the globe. We thank all our customers for their patience and support over the past week. Like so many of you, we love WordPress and we are committed to the stability and longevity of the community. Now one way that all of this could have been resolved is with a document that Automattic sent over to WP Engine, the trademark license agreement. So they will grant a license to WP Engine for the use of WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks and branding. If they provide a fee, pay Automattic a royalty fee equal to 8% of its gross revenue on a monthly basis or commit 8% of its revenue in the form of salaries of WP Engine employees working on WordPress core features and functionality to be directed by WordPress.org or some combination of the two options. This comes with a prohibition on forking. WP Engine will cease and desist from forking or modifying any of Automattic, WooCommerce's or its affiliates software, including but not limited to plugins and extensions in a manner that disrupts any partnership between Automattic and its commercial partners. Now this is actually a really funny thing for them to include because of something Automattic does a bit later, but we'll get to that. And if they do all of this, they'll still be allowed to participate in word camps and WordPress community events. Ooh, so cool. The term of the agreement is seven years and Automattically renewing for one year periods unless either party provides a written notice of non-renewal at least 90 days before the end of the then current term. As you can tell, WP Engine didn't exactly want to pay an 8% tax. All of that is enough to set the general groundwork. Since all of this began, people have been discovering some other things here and there. One of those are some trademarks filed back in July, managed WordPress and hosted WordPress. These trademarks have not yet been granted and there's not been any comment on how these were going to be enforced if they were granted. So what we know is this wasn't exactly a spur of the moment thing. Now the reason that I decided to jump in a couple of days ago is, WP Engine didn't just stop at a cease and assist. Matt Mullenweg an Automattic self-proclaimed scorched earth campaign against WP Engine has harmed not just our company, but the entire WordPress ecosystem. This symbiotic relationship between WordPress, its community, and the businesses that invest millions support WordPress users and advance the ecosystem is based on trust in the promises of openness and freedom. Matt Mullenweg's conduct over the past 10 days has exposed significant conflicts of interest and government's issues that if left unchecked threaten to destroy that trust. WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community. Like so many of you, we love WordPress and are committed to the stability and longevity of the community. They decided to go and file a lawsuit against them, leading to what might possibly be the funniest addition I have ever seen on a website. So if you want to contribute to WordPress.org, they have a login system. They added a button that initially had WP Engine has filed a massive lawsuit with a linked lawsuit and then a toggle I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way financially or otherwise. They later removed the link to the lawsuit and just have the toggle there. But this created a problem. What does it mean to be affiliated with WP Engine? If you work in a company that uses WP Engine, are you affiliated? If you're a prior employee, are you affiliated? If you're a contractor that worked with someone who wanted to use WP Engine, are you affiliated? Even if you are no longer managing that project anymore, if you've done sponsored work with WP Engine to make a plugin, are you affiliated? If you're a former employee of WP Engine, are you affiliated? Maybe? All this did is fueled the fire around this issue leading to more confusion. However, this led to what might be one of the greatest interactions I've ever seen and something I hope she uses for the rest of her life. This is a developer known as Laura Elizabeth. Guess I can't contribute to WordPress. Hello, thank you for being a WP Engine customer. With WordPress replying, sorry, who are you? Imagine getting hoed by WordPress. Now with everything going on, I think this might be the craziest part. Somewhere deep down in his mind, I think Matt knows that what he is doing is crazy. If he doesn't know it's crazy, this is a giant psyop to shrink the size of WordPress because what he went and did is through Automattic offered what is being called the Automattic alignment. If you resigned before 8pm UTC on Thursday, October 3rd, 2024, you would receive $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever is higher. But you'd lose access to Automattic that evening and you wouldn't be eligible for rehires. HR also added some extra details to sweeten the deal. We wanted to make it as enticing as possible. This led to 159 people, 8.4% of the company instantly resigning. Now, of course, he tried to frame it as a good thing and considering this is his blog, there's a lot of people being like, yeah, this is great. What an awesome thing you've done here. Now you've gotten rid of the baggage. What has been failed to be mentioned is this led to the head of WordPress.com, the head of programs and contributor experience, and the principal architect for AI, all resigning. And here's my thought. Yes, six months of salary or 30,000, whichever is higher, is nice and does make it easier to find another job. But if you have a job, right now, I don't want to be looking for another one. I don't want to go through that interview process that is full of just AI spam resumes where people are applying for thousands of jobs. Jobs are getting thousands of resumes and you somehow have to stand up from the crowd. Even if you don't like what Automattic is doing, it's still a paycheck. And as long as the company hasn't gone under, I have a feeling the number of people who'd be willing to leave, if this was like two or three years ago where finding a tech job was a lot easier, would be a lot higher. Now, sadly, I forgot to save it, but there actually was a poll done on Blind, which is one of those sites where employees of a company can come together and say things about the company, give reviews, all that sort of stuff. And in that poll, it said 50% of people, if the offer was provided again, they would have taken the offer. Now, there's nowhere to filter out previous employees, so maybe the number wouldn't be that high, but even if it was an extra 15% we'll say, that's still a lot of extra people that would want to leave. Now, remember that part in the trademark policy, the prohibition on forking. Well, this is a plugin known as Advanced Custom Fields. We have been made aware that the Advanced Custom Fields plugin on the WordPress directory has been taken over by WordPress.org. A plugin under active development has never been unilaterally and forcibly taken away from its creator without consent in the 21-year history of WordPress. This is a very popular plugin within the WordPress ecosystem. When they took it over, they decided to name it Secure Custom Fields. So they took over an extension, called it Secure. Now, to be clear, this is an open source project. You are allowed to take the project, fork the project, and then rename it. In fact, if you're going to fork it, you should rename it. What you shouldn't do, though, is take over the page the plugin was listed on, not only that, but take over the active installations, all 2 million of them, and take over the ratings and reviews of the plugin. What they have here is not being treated like a new plugin This is a hostile takeover of the plugin. And there are a couple of WordPress moderators playing defense for it as well. This is never, ever, ever acceptable. If you forcibly take over a plugin, you're a malicious actor. You are no different from a malware developer. This is not okay. This led to ACF sending an email out to the users, warning them of the takeover, and informing them of what they need to do to ensure their installation of ACF remains an installation of ACF. And of course, WordPress is very salty about this, and the reason why they did this is really stupid and really petty, at least their public reason for doing so. What we can tell is they have not updated their version to patch the security hole. We patched in 6.3.6.2 of secure custom fields so using their version does not reduce your exposure and risk. It actually increases it. Now, what you would do in a normal situation is if you have this problem, you send it to the project, and then they fix the problem. Now, the thing they are failing to mention is who advanced custom fields is affiliated with. WP Engine. Now, following this situation, there was another situation with a plugin known as WP Fusion who also sent a cease and desist over to Automattic. Now, this one seems to be a bit more petty and just doesn't want their plugin listed on WordPress.com. So, I'm not surprised with seeing stuff like this happen. This one is a lot smaller or plugin as well, and is probably just gonna get removed because it's not really that big of a deal. Now, let's go back to that checkbox for a moment because the checkbox has created some problems that were probably not initially thought about. So, remember how I was saying that WP Engine likes to sponsor a lot of work, even though WordPress seems to think they don't go and contribute to the project? Turns out, they pay people that contribute to the project, and it led to the accessibility team meetings being suspended as neither of the current accessibility team representatives are able to log in to wordpress.org. Team members are suspended until further notice. One person is not certain whether they can safely check the WP Engine checkbox, and one person was removed from the Slack, and another person is unwilling to check the checkbox because they don't actually know if they're affiliated. It's almost like banning people from a giant contributor to the project has some really weird consequences. Of course, Matt just doesn't think there's a problem here. I guess we should find some new team reps to replace them. Do you have any suggestions? Not at all acknowledging that he created this problem. Now, following this, one of the people did conclude, okay, he is comfortable logging in. But they still lost their other people. So, you know, one for three is better than zero for three. All of this WordPress stuff really, really sucks. But the thing that a lot of people just aren't talking about are the developers and customers caught in the middle of this who have no idea what's going to happen to the WordPress platform. This person on Reddit, you asked how we're suffering as a result of Mullenweg's war with WPE. I just lost a $40,000 contract over it. Along with that contract, there are other clients he has which are kind of like wary about continuing forward, want to move to something else, and a bunch of people in the comments all have the exact same experience. They don't know if their clients want to keep using WordPress. They might be a client who is using WordPress who wants to move something different because nobody knows if this platform is still going to be around in a couple of years from now. Maybe the project will be, but no one really knows about WordPress.com. Along with this, ACF users were scrambling to work out what the hell was happening. Do I need to migrate to something? Why was the plug in taken over? Why is it suddenly called something different? What is going on? And some people lost their weekend because of it because that's just how this goes. That's what happens when you try to screw with people's businesses for the sake of the developers, for the sake of the WordPress users. I hope WordPress finds a way to navigate out of this because WordPress is a crucial part of the internet. But as it stands, I don't think Matt Mullenweg has any interest in doing so. I think he's willing to burn the entire ship to the ground trying to get his way. And it's not going to happen. I don't see anybody in this situation backing down. This is only going to get worse. But what do you think? Are you a WordPress user? If you are, please let me know your thoughts down below. What did you initially think of WP Engine? Has your opinion changed since then? I would love to know. And if you're someone just watching this from the outside, also let me know your take on the situation as well. I'd love to know. So if you liked the video, go like the video. And if you really liked the video and you want to become one of. These amazing people over here, check out the Patreon, SubscribeStar, LiberaPay linked in the description down below. That's going to be it for me and... There are a lot of competitors to WordPress, but WordPress is the simplest., The Wordpress Situation Is Crazy, Brodie Robertson, 01jagyqepx5r04nw2qz7nx7gkp.