WordPress Has Gone Thru a Crisis, and I Am... ![rw-book-cover](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1146976382976741382/6_mJwPIx.jpg) 🔗 **Source:** [WordPress Has Gone Thru a Crisis, and I Am...](https://twitter.com/asheresque/status/2098526786514563566/?rw_tt_thread=True) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [wp-engine-lawsuit, private-equity, open-source-funding, community-sentiment, automattic] > author: Marc Eliot Stein > source: X / Twitter > reference: https://twitter.com/asheresque/status/2098526786514563566/?rw_tt_thread=True > date created: 2026-09-19 16:27 > > > [!info] Generated analysis — not the author's words. Sections below are machine-written > > from the captured source. Only text inside `> [!quote]` blocks is verbatim from the author. > > Do not quote or attribute any other line to the named author. > > <!-- deep-read: light-touch --> > > # 🏷️ Title: WordPress has gone thru a crisis, and I am also glad that Matt Mullenweg will continue > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 📝 Summary - Stein backs Mullenweg's continuation as CEO and reassigns responsibility for the crisis to WP Engine. - He characterizes WP Engine as 'a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source' and applies the label 'Enshittification.' - The post quotes Mary Hubbard, whose own statement cites Automattic as the largest financial contributor to WordPress. - Matters as a datapoint on how part of the community absorbed the September 2026 board episode: as an attack from outside rather than a governance failure inside. - Bottom line: a support statement that resolves an internal board dispute by naming an external villain. ## 📖 Main Content - The argument moves the causal center from Automattic's board to WP Engine, though the board vote is the event being discussed. - 'Enshittification' is Cory Doctorow's term for platforms degrading users to extract value; applying it to a hosting company that is a lawsuit counterparty stretches it well past its original referent. - Hubbard's quoted rationale is financial-contribution-based: Automattic funds the most, therefore its co-founder at the helm is reassuring. That reasoning ties project governance to sponsor spend. - Contested: no evidence is offered connecting WP Engine to the board's decision to place Mullenweg on leave. ## 🗒️ Notes - Two distinct claims are fused: that Mullenweg should continue, and that WP Engine caused the crisis. Only the first is about the board vote. - 'Go Matt!' signals the register — solidarity post, not analysis. - The financial-contributor argument recurs across supportive posts that week and is worth tracking as a pattern. > [!quote] > It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ## 📚 References - Not applicable to this source — the post links no external primary source. ## 🎯 Conclusion - Useful as sentiment evidence, not as an account of what the board did or why. - Next step: file alongside the other community-reaction posts for a sentiment map rather than treating it as reporting. ## 🔄 Refactor Appendix — WordPress has gone thru a crisis, and I am also glad that Matt Mullenweg will continue ### 📚 Literature Atoms (H3) #### [H1] Community support reframes board action as external attack > [!quote] > the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine **Context & use**: - Opening claim of the post, Sep 11 2026 - Relocates causation outside the company whose board took the action **Tags**: #xref <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> #### [H2] Sponsor spend is used to justify governance standing > [!quote] > Automattic, the largest financial contributor to the WordPress project **Context & use**: - Quoted from Mary Hubbard inside the post - Ties who should lead to who pays — the core FAIR critique **Tags**: #xref #articleseed <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### 🧠 Permanent Candidates (H4) #### [P1] Funding share is not a governance mandate **Claim** (one sentence, Courtney's voice): An organization's contribution volume to an open-source project establishes what it has given, not what authority it holds over the project's direction. **Evidence pointer**: [[#H2]] **Scope & conditions**: Holds in projects whose governance documents separate funding from decision rights; contested where the project has no written governance at all. **Links** (≥1 with annotation): - [[FAIR-package-manager]] — because applies-in WordPress governance - [[Open-source-capture]] — because extends <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue - [F1] Track how often the largest-contributor argument appears in the September 2026 reaction posts #fleeting #inbox ### → Things 3 (max 2 actions) - [ ] Collect the largest-contributor framing instances for the governance piece #things <!-- deep-read:sections end --> 📄 **Full text:** [[Full Document Contents/Tweets/WordPress Has Gone Thru a Crisis, and I Am....md|WordPress Has Gone Thru a Crisis, and I Am... by Marc Eliot Stein]] ## Highlights - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-21 at 5:45 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-21 at 6:45 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-22 at 8:52 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-25 at 1:01 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-25 at 1:46 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-25 at 2:46 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-25 at 4:30 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f)) ## New Highlights added 2026-09-26 at 5:49 PM - It seems to me the key player here has been not Matt but WP Engine, a hyper-capitalist private equity venture stomping into the world of open source. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m2zdsegjc4va38n0qc5a015f))