More Thoughts on WordPress; Power, Politics, and WordPress
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Manton Reece ☛ More thoughts on WordPress
Things have accelerated since my post about Automattic and WP Engine a couple weeks ago. I’m writing this follow-up post not to pick sides, but because it feels right to blog about something this significant happening in the website hosting world.
Banning WP Engine from WordPress.org sort of cascaded to other problems. The popular Advanced Custom Fields plugin maintained by WP Engine was forked to Secure Custom Fields. David Heinemeier Hansson blogged about open source licensing.
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Jason Tucker ☛ Power, Politics, and WordPress
For over 12 years, I co-hosted a podcast called WPwatercooler with Sé Reed and Jason Cosper. We weren’t just discussing the latest plugins or updates—but as of late we were holding a critical mirror up to the WordPress ecosystem. We talked about its triumphs, its community, and, yes, its leadership. Our episodes often took a closer look at the actions and decisions of Matt Mullenweg, WordPress’s co-founder. We aimed to question what needed questioning, and our love for the community was always at the heart of those conversations.
But as of August 9th, 2024, I decided it was time to step away. The world of WordPress, its challenges, and its shifting dynamics had changed significantly over the years, and it felt right to close this chapter. Little did we know how intense those dynamics would become in just a few short weeks.