Matt vs WP Engine: Too Far?
WordPress co-founder, Matt Mullenweg, picks a fight with WP Engine, even calling them a "cancer".
Did you catch Matt's keynote talk at WordCamp U.S. this year? It was pretty boilerplate, as far as his talks usually go, but there was one part that stood out to nearly everyone, and that was his comments towards WP Engine and their lack of contribution to the WordPress project.
Matt expressed his annoyance at the contributions made by WP Engine to WordPress, comparing their 47 hours per week to Automattic's 3,786 hours per week.
“Those of us who are makers, who create the source, need to be wary of those who would take our creations and squeeze out the juice. They’re grifters who will hop onto the next fad, but we’re trying to build something big here, something long term—something that lasts for generations. Think about that next time it comes up to renew your hosting or domain, weigh your dollars towards companies that give back more, because you’ll get back more, too. Freedom isn’t free.”
Those are some pretty strong words, and I'm sure it doesn't feel good to be called out in a negative light at one of the biggest WordPress events of the year. As such, I was curious to see the response from WP Engine, as these were some harsh words from the man at the top. I put a tweet out saying the same:
That post (which cited an article on WPTavern) started a lively discussion about the point raised by Matt during his talk.
As you would expect, WP Engine wasn't far behind with their response. In summary, they said something to the effect of:
- WP Engine has contributed to WordPress innovation for over a decade, advancing the ecosystem and supporting developers and millions of websites.
- They invest heavily in the community through sponsorships, educational events like DE{CODE}, and development tools such as Faust.js and WPGraphQL.
- WP Engine is committed to fostering creativity and empowering WordPress developers to keep the CMS at the forefront of web development.
For more, see WP Engine's article.
The Point vs The Delivery
Matt has become far more divisive in recent years. Call it the size of WordPress, or maybe just the demeanor of someone who has been the focus of so many attacks for two decades. Whatever the reason, he's clearly tired of being politically correct all the time.
What often happens is that he will make a point, people argue the point for a moment, then they start to get angry at the way the point was raised. They attack the messenger, for lack of a better term.
But it's not like it isn't warranted at times.
I've been around WordPress long enough to have seen Matt air out personal vendettas rather publicly, wrapped up in some kind of “I'm looking out for what's best for everyone” sentiment.
This actually ends up having the opposite effect in that the focus shifts to Matt (the person), not what it is he's trying to point out. Because, look, as far as I can tell there is a valid point there. This post by Noel does a pretty good job outlining that point:
I think what's pretty telling, though, is that this comment by Noel was a response to a poll that Matt ran, and it shows how the majority of folks disagree with his take on WP Engine's role within WordPress.
But it keeps going...
Matt has been popping up across various channels, seemingly defending his view and attempting to make points about WP Engine's lack of contributions despite their size and financial resources. Unfortunately, those points are now falling upon deaf ears because of the manner and frequency in which the “attacks” are coming.
Matt published this post on the official WordPress.org news about how WP Engine turns off revision history, an important feature in WordPress core, to save money. To drive home another point, he used a mini-story about his mom confusing the two brands (WP Engine and WordPress), which was the basis for the title of the post. To cap it off, he referred to WP Engine as “a cancer”. Yikes.
This made me wonder a few things:
- Are a lot of people confusing WP Engine (the brand) with WordPress?
- Is it ever okay to call businesses, and the people working there, “cancer”?
- Should this have been posted on his personal blog, instead?
Speaking of the personal blog, Matt did write a blog post about investors, and if they are inherently “bad”. Something he likely wanted to touch on because of WP Engine's impressive investment over the years. He contends:
- Investors are essential for entrepreneurship, but there are both good and bad investors. It's important to evaluate their track record and actions after investing.
- Private equity investors can be beneficial, especially when they respect open-source values and support the community, as seen with Automattic's investors.
- Actions matter more than words; companies should be judged based on how their behavior impacts communities and ecosystems over time.
I'm not surprised by his viewpoint given that Automattic has taken its fair share of investment, though I do take exception to his claim that investors are essential for entrepreneurship. That is not true at all.
Just speaking from my own experience, I never had a single investor, and LearnDash not only did well, it thrived. In fact, we absolutely destroyed Automattic's competing product to LearnDash (Sensei). I didn't even consider them a credible competitor.
His Mind is Made Up
Matt has always taken on the role of “open source protector”, and whenever he feels that it is being taken advantage of, he attacks — and his attacks can be quite harsh. He clearly feels that this is happening with WP Engine, though it also has an adverse effect for him in that the community starts to highlight some hypocrisy:
History has shown that when Matt makes his mind up about something, nothing will shake him from it. If anything, backlash makes him dig in further. He will go down on that ship, but he knows that the ship will never go down, because the ocean is the community that contributes to, and depends on, WordPress in their daily lives.
Qualifying Contributions is in Poor Taste
If I take the time to separate the inflammatory rhetoric and poor choice of message delivery, I do think that there is an important point that Matt is bringing to the community's attention. WP Engine indeed does have the fortunate position to contribute more to WordPress in terms of hours. What I don't like, however, is that Matt is outlining what he considers to be an acceptable contribution. Sponsoring WordCamps? That doesn't count. Not to him, anyway.
This has a way of polarizing the less visible in the community. The individual developer who has a small plugin business is proud to sponsor their local WordCamp, but the message being sent from the boardroom is that this is a “meh” form of contribution. In other words, don't feel too good about it. It's not really valued.
Matt has come down hard on WordPress hosts for some time. GoDaddy, Pagely (now part of GoDaddy), and Pantheon come to mind. I think he has a higher expectation of them than the “average” WordPress user.
And maybe we all should.
They are the ones with the money and resources to really move the needle for the WordPress project. To date, it doesn't appear like any host is living up to Matt's unspoken expectation.
Legal Updates
On September 23, 2024, not too long after this post was originally published, WP Engine issued a cease & desist against Matt and Automattic.
I must say, he does not look good, especially all the threatening texts he sent prior to starting his public attacks on WP Engine.
One day later, on September 24, 2024, Matt and Automattic issued their own cease & desist with some heavy emphasis on the use of the WordPress trademark.
This is interesting, because there are many businesses that use the “WordPress” name similarly to WP Engine. This could have some far-reaching ramifications for the entire industry, depending on how it plays out.
On October 2, 2024, WP Engine filed their official lawsuit.
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