I’ve taken this post down. I’ve been attacked so much the past few days; the most vicious, personal, hateful words poisoned my brain, and the original version of this post was mean. I am so sorry. I shouldn’t let this stuff get to me, but it clearly did, and I took it out on DHH, who, while I disagree with him on several points, isn’t the actual villain in this story: it’s WP Engine and Silver Lake.
A few bullets to his core points:
- The headline “Automattic is doing open source dirty” is not fair.
- Automattic did not work on a deal with WP Engine for 18+ months because of the GPL, or them using “WP” in their name, it was because of their abuse of the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks. Trademarks must be protected, as evidenced by Rails trademark policy.
- Our C&D is about public trademark abuse; theirs is about censorship, and doxxes private messages. They have since filed a kitchen sink lawsuit that embroils all of WordPress.org.
- Updating ACF to Secure Custom Fields in our directory was to provide users of our plugin directory the best, safest, most secure code. It included a security update that still has not been merged by the ACF team.
- We will merge any improvements ACF makes to their GPL code going forward and will also include enhanced functionality in the coming days to provide a secure and free drop-in replacement for ACF. If WP Engine didn’t want this to happen, they should not have published their code under the GPL or distributed it through WordPress.org’s directory.
- I think it’s fantastic when businesses are built on open source, the WordPress ecosystem is at least 10B+ a year; Automattic and WP Engine are less than 5% of that.
“David, perhaps instead of spending $2M on a race car, you should do some philanthropy.
Says the guy wearing $2k cardigans and buying domain names for $100k a pop out of spite. Maybe you should focus on enjoying life rather than picking fights. I saw a photo of you at the Super Bowl, looks like those were more fun times. Do more of that, there are games every Sunday and you could probably afford to attend them in person with great seats. It’s sad that you have chosen to just be so angry and are on this path of self-destruction.
I retract this statement, and it’s no longer in the post. But you left a comment before that so I’ll leave it up.
Mic drop.
Matt, I like you. I like Automattic. I like WordPress. I agree with your position on WP Engine.
Having said all that, these sorts of posts are not a good look. You’re a good person that’s done many great things. This post makes you sound like a school yard bully. Don’t let people get you down. Don’t lower yourself to this sort of stuff.
With love.
I second the idea that software trademarks should be tied to a foundation rather than individuals! I believe Matt, in this case was responding, in casual style, on his blog to specific individuals.
RailsEngine, sure.. but Rails is trademarked. You explicitly excluded WP from the trademark… so REngine would be a reasonable comparison, not RailsEngine. You still can’t seem to make a coherent argument as to how WPE is violating trademark and the entire rest of the hosting industry isn’t? Or how WPE isn’t “giving back” when dozens of other Managed WordPress hosts give back zero. I’d love to see more contribution to WP from all corners, but all I see is more and more independent contributors being turned off by you. Which means even more damaging consolidation. Soon a8c is going to be 100% of the contribution when the goal should be supporting broader contribution. I don’t know who you’re actually listening to at this point, but encourage take some time and listen… really listen far and wide.
There are companies out there that are paying some kind of license fee to Automattic, so you know.
Yes you’ve proved David H is (to some extent) a hypocrite. But being a hypocrite does not make someone wrong.
What a tool. What goes around comes around.
Let me know when you resign, you’re fired, or you’re arrested for your racketeering and extortion. In the mean time I’ll be moving all my sites off of WordPress and onto Joomla 5.
I understand what you going through, but I would have choosen another plan to terminate them slowly, not this one.
Yes Matt
Avoid the straw men battles. No matter how personal they are becoming. I think people love the drama and will happily weigh in without facts. Conversely, I think there is enough evidence now to collate how misinformation is disseminated. Deal with WP-Engine/Silver lake in the courts and then hire a team to start filing for defamation and libel lawsuits.
Good on you, Dude!
I can’t belive how biased this people not event have sense of gratitude for what you have done to the community for last 2 decades. Wish they realise the real culprit wpengine who is playing victim card now …we stand with you matt
Much respect for taking this post down.
It takes courage and humility to admit you’re wrong and apologize publicly, as you did here.
>If WP Engine didn’t want this to happen, they should not have published their code under the GPL or distributed it through WordPress.org’s directory.
You mean the community standard and encouraged method of distributing WordPress plugins? Where do you think Elliot should have published his plugin in, what was it, 2012? I don’t think it would have been possible for him to have predicted your actions and what would have become of it.
Have you see the interview from 60 minutes where Mike Wallace is interviewing Morgan Freeman and the topic of racism comes up? Mike Wallace asks Morgan Freeman how to stop it and Mr. Freeman’s response was as concise as it was wise, he said “Stop talking about it! I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace, you know me as Morgan Freeman, let’s address each other like that.” (I paraphrase slightly.)
I’m so sorry that things have gone the way they have with WP Engine/Silver Lake. Truly unfortunate. But I think that every time you respond to one of these distractions it becomes an even bigger distraction.
If I had the opportunity to have coffee with you, I would encourage you to let these people do what they do, all they’re trying to do is take the attention off the real issue and distract people. They belittle others to try to make themselves feel like bigger people than they are. They’re playground bullies in ties and jackets.
You do so many cool things and contribute so much to the world around you (never mind the internet!) that if you never got to draw another breath, you should leave this world as one of the most satisfied people I know of for the contributions you’ve made. If you wanted to spend the rest of your life under a palm tree on a beach and never do another single thing, I would think the contentedness that comes from the contributions you’ve made should keep happy though going through your mind for a long, long, long, long, time.
Let the lawyers do their lawyering and don’t pay any of these small minds a bit of attention who can’t do anything except try to tear someone down to build themselves up. Of course that’s easier said than done, but ultimately, you’ll be the better person I think. And there are a lot of folks still in your corner!
Agreed, Let the lawyers do their job. Let the public relationship people do their PR thing, and get back to solving problems.
The lawyers are doing their jobs, but the legal system is prolonged and deliberate by design. In the meantime, we’re trying to ensure the world knows WP Engine’s behavior.
Hey Matt, Leo here. I’m the upcoming WordCamp Malaysia lead and on the organizing team for WCAsia 2025. Was a volunteer at WCAsia 2023 when I was given the chance to ask you about the future of WordPress via the open mike.
Personally, I’m thankful for your efforts in growing WordPress as an open source software. It has given thousands if not tens of thousands of people a way to earn an income and elevate themselves from poverty.
It has helped me even to go from just another developer looking for his next project (amidst the feast and famine cycle), to have a stable income which provides for my family.
I understand a lot of people are against what you do. And it frustrates you. However, perhaps the best way moving forward is to not do anything drastic about WPE and WPE related products. Or to communicate more before doing anything.
WPE’s winning the public opinion battle and long term, it doesn’t look good for both WPE and Automattic. I hope you can work something out with Lee Wittlinger.
Take care and God Bless, Matt 🙂
Leo of Leokoo.com
This, too, shall pass.
Definitely there is a bigger picture here, even bigger than WP vs. WPE. Having watched AWS scoop up open source projects like the blob, I wonder about the future of OSS, and have to agree there is a bigger question here. Certainly, I see the benefit of AWS, where you have awesome tools like ES, neatly and seamlessly configured to run on AWS, all supported by the goodness of the OSS folks.
However, I am a small contributor to a big open source library so can say I have some insight into how a creator or maintainer has to divide time between “pet project” and “actual cash flow”, even for one of the biggest, most widely used libraries on the planet.
So when I @see “Elastic and Amazon Reach Agreement on Trademark Infringement Lawsuit” on the elastic blog I’m struggling to see how ES gets any benefit. Strikes me as a Sybase / Borland scenario – anyone remember them? I thought so.
Btw, I happen to be a paying WP customer, very happy customer, thank you!
“the original version of this post was mean. I am so sorry.”
Thanks for setting an example. I know that feeling. In fact, I’ve been moderated twice this week and I’m sorry.
Starting to see your point and can why you’re going to “extremes”. Don’t agree on the listing takeover but have to give you the benefit of the doubt based on 21 years of history. I’ve made a living with WordPress for 12 years, so thank you.
Good night and good luck.
A lot of stuff going on in the world. Folks catching on fire after their hospital is being bombed. And some company is using a trademark incorrectly. Lot’s of stuff. Hard to keep up.