I support the mad king manton.org
I hope that my customers and readers, even when they disagree with me — even new readers finding this very post — still respect that I’m dedicated to making my product better because that in turn helps users make the web better. I’m putting my WordPress thoughts down in writing on my blog because I believe in the open web.
Sure, I really respect your journey trying to make the open web a better place 👍
@manton this is a really thoughtful take. Did he do some immature things and cause a bit of a ruckus? Definitely. But we're all human and Wordpress is something that's been his baby for a long time. It's a complicated situation and I'm not informed on it enough to really talk about it in depth, but I would've probably been a lot more unhinged about it if I was in Matt's position.
@grubz Thank you. Yeah, being attacked is really hard to handle even for people with very thick skin.
@manton I agree with this. Matt was unhinged for a bit there, but he had the future of the project in mind. It is crazy that Wordpress is readily available for free, even if it is a bit clunky. I could see being defensive in his position over WP Engine given everything.
@manton Grateful for your public sharing of your thoughts, reflection and conclusion(s).
I find it intentional, important and useful.
I put in effort to read everything about these recent wordpress events intending to blog my own thoughts, yet it's been emotionally exhausting; so no post,
Until your penning of this MAd King headline.
I feel better for reading your words moreso than others'.
Why? I ask.
Because others have written Positions,
Yours is a Conclusion.
You support the Mad King
Someone who has built up a great reputation over many years makes a mistake and boom, they’re out.
Is it really a (=one) mistake or is misstep after misstep?
@thosch Hmm, I guess my phrasing is a little exaggerated. The last couple months still seems like a very small segment of time compared to the full history of WordPress.
@manton Regardless of this issue, I can't help but feel WordPress has lost its way.
The fight with WP Engine feels more like it is a symptom of something deeper.
Despite everything I've written in the linked post, your points about the fight are largely on the money.
And if WordPress didn't go down the Gutenberg path, I'd never have found Micro.blog.
@manton From a distance, I followed the drama… I don’t know who right or who is wrong, but I know that WordPress feels bloated and aging. I’m happy to be using Micro.blog and Ghost for my hosting needs. Well written piece BTW.
In 2018, when I added ActivityPub support to Micro.blog, I faced a choice: do I fight other “competing” platforms or do I embrace them? In hindsight that decision is obvious.
The support for ActivityPub is what brought me to Micro.blog, actually. Just so you know. :-)
@manton 100% when you say: "One positive outcome of this whole drama is shedding light on the WordPress Foundation, the WordPress.org website, and the plugin directory. I do think the community would benefit from expanding the WordPress Foundation to a slightly larger board and more transparent management of WordPress.org. Matt could add two more members to the board and ask for nominations from the community."
People's concerns now (I'm reporting here opinions I see and hear, not necessarily mine) are that .org is owned by Matt personally, not the Foundation, and that decisions are made by Matt alone, not by the community teams (examples: login checkbox, legal implications for contributors, closing new account registrations, etc.).
And some people had to face consequences (e.g. being banned from the community Slack or community social accounts), even among those who supported his actions against WPEngine. This has been counterproductive and it backfired.
I share your and Matt's vision for an open web and democratizing publishing. We must therefore listen to people's voices and not silence them.
Disclaimer: I am a WordPress Community Team contributor, but the opinions expressed here are independent and do not represent the team.
@patriciabt Good points. I think there are some relatively simple things Matt could do (such as expanding the foundation board) that would alleviate many concerns, while still leading the project. It's too early to burn it all down, in my opinion.
@manton It's quite possible people would still have been freaking out about the Christmas break shutdown given the line; "I hope to find the time, energy, and money to reopen all of this sometime in the new year", even without the drama.