I wanted to share something I read about a few days ago and have been following closely. Since most of us are familiar with WordPress, I figured it’s worth talking about here.

 

There’s a major feud happening between WordPress and WP Engine. WP Engine is a big company with over 1,000 employees and a ton of clients, including businesses, schools, and charities. Recently, WordPress has banned WP Engine from using its resources, and this is causing serious problems for WP Engine and its customers. The ban stops them from getting updates to themes and plugins, leaving many sites vulnerable to security risks.

 

The tension goes back to some disagreements between WP Engine and Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress. He’s accused WP Engine of profiting from WordPress without giving back enough. WP Engine, in turn, says they’re being unfairly targeted, even sending a cease-and-desist letter to try to stop what they see as false claims. For now, WordPress has temporarily allowed WP Engine users access to resources again, but it’s unclear what will happen next.

 

It’s something to keep an eye on if you’re using WP Engine for your site or are just interested in how this all plays out.

 

Some interesting links:

 

https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/01/wordpress-vs-wp-engine-drama-explained/

 

https://ma.tt/

 

https://journal.rmccue.io/431/wp-engine-must-win/

 

https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Complaint-WP-Engine-v-Automattic-et-al-with-Exhibit.pdf

 

https://pearsonified.com/truth-about-thesis-com/

 

So far 159 people left Automattic - 8.4% of the company walked.

I've been following it. It's getting strange.

 

My worry is this - could you imagine a world without the downloadable WP software and only a paid SaaS version?

 

That's what online communities are turning into. People would rather pay Circle or Mighty Networks $100 a month to host on their cloud rather than install XF or VB on their own server.

 

It's nice until you can't pay, and then you simply lose it.

 

Rented space.

I've been following it. It's getting strange.

 

My worry is this - could you imagine a world without the downloadable WP software and only a paid SaaS version?

 

That's what online communities are turning into. People would rather pay Circle or Mighty Networks $100 a month to host on their cloud rather than install XF or VB on their own server.

 

It's nice until you can't pay, and then you simply lose it.

 

Rented space.

It’s not interesting for a hobbyist to go this route. This kind of concept was designed was designed for businesses in the first place. And they wouldn’t simply delete your space overnight. You’d be given a notice months in advance.

WordPress as a whole (talking about the open-source .org) will be fine as it's open source but, Matt is not making his case easy with claiming that WPEngine is confusing potential customers. They're already confused when you search up the term WordPress and you're presented with the .com and the .org, those of us in the know but everyone else isn't sure from the very start.

 

Seeing how so many have left the company Automaticc tends to reflect that just like any large corporation, there is an underlying toxic environment. Matt's actions lately, make it seem that he's a difficult person to work under. I wouldn't be surprised in there's a potential for the board of directors to pressure Matt to resign, as the overall public perception of WordPress is being soured by this one person's actions.

WordPress as a whole (talking about the open-source .org) will be fine as it's open source but, Matt is not making his case easy with claiming that WPEngine is confusing potential customers. They're already confused when you search up the term WordPress and you're presented with the .com and the .org, those of us in the know but everyone else isn't sure from the very start.

 

Seeing how so many have left the company Automaticc tends to reflect that just like any large corporation, there is an underlying toxic environment. Matt's actions lately, make it seem that he's a difficult person to work under. I wouldn't be surprised in there's a potential for the board of directors to pressure Matt to resign, as the overall public perception of WordPress is being soured by this one person's actions.

It's surprising how he is still voicing his opinion. Surely by now his lawyers should've said he needs to shut up?

As a person who develops WordPress sites for a living, this is actually quite scary, since we also offer managed WordPress hosting, and have ACF deeply integrated into our workflow.

 

Granted, they are very unlikely to go for small fishes like us, but it is still scary.

I had a conversation with someone about WordPress doing something like this when they launched their "hosted" and paid plans. I believe WPEngine is the biggest independent WordPress platform, so they are competing directly with what WordPress is offering on its end. So, why wouldn't WordPress want to take them down a peg to grow its own business?

 

It's stupid and petty, and it will only hurt WordPress and the ecosystem in the end if they do not stop doing this ASAP.

WP Engine added this to its footer over the last week:

 

"WP Engine is a proud member and supporter of the community of WordPress® users. The WordPress® trademark is the intellectual property of the WordPress Foundation, and the Woo® and WooCommerce® trademarks are the intellectual property of WooCommerce, Inc. Uses of the WordPress®, Woo®, and WooCommerce® names in this website are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement by WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. WP Engine is not endorsed or owned by, or affiliated with, the WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc."

 

The latest viable records from the Wayback Machine are from September 26 and this footer addition does not exist.

 

I just find it interesting they would add this in the middle of everything that is happening.

WP Engine added this to its footer over the last week:

 

"WP Engine is a proud member and supporter of the community of WordPress® users. The WordPress® trademark is the intellectual property of the WordPress Foundation, and the Woo® and WooCommerce® trademarks are the intellectual property of WooCommerce, Inc. Uses of the WordPress®, Woo®, and WooCommerce® names in this website are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement by WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. WP Engine is not endorsed or owned by, or affiliated with, the WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc."

 

The latest viable records from the Wayback Machine are from September 26 and this footer addition does not exist.

 

I just find it interesting they would add this in the middle of everything that is happening.

 

I think it's smart for them to clarify, the whole situation sucks though. Very "mom and dad are fighting" vibes, everyone loses in this.

Thought I'd share some more things I've found:

 

[ATTACH type=full" size="1010x403]152[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH type=full" size="1010x281]153[/ATTACH]

 

https://www.wpgraphql.com/2024/10/07/wpgraphql-becomes-a-canonical-plugin-my-move-to-automattic

 

[ATTACH type=full" size="507x707]154[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH type=full" size="545x676]155[/ATTACH]

 

 

Matt's gone and initiated a hostile takeover of ACF:

https://wordpress.org/news/2024/10/secure-custom-fields/

 

On the ACF homepage:

 

[ATTACH type=full" size="1138x481]157[/ATTACH]

On the ACF homepage:

 

[ATTACH type=full" alt="1728930942164.webp]157[/ATTACH]

Matt's really breaking his own windows. There's no stop to this guy.

Wordpress just stated this on their Twitter:

 

“If

WP Engine dropped its lawsuits, apologized, and got in good standing with its trademark use, you are welcome to have access to the plugin directory listing.

 

In the meantime, Secure Custom Fields is a community plugin and open for contribution. We know you can't log into .org right now, but if you have any code changes you'd like to make get in touch and we'll set up an alternative pathway for you. We want the best, most secure code for our users.

 

“https://twitter.com/username/status/1845663751342883195

I thought Matt was known as the "we welcome forks" guy... He could have just done that and probably seen as taking a higher road. What just happened was they hijacked the ACF slug on wordpress.org, 2+ million installs and all of their customer reviews. Seems more hostile than necessary but I won't pretend to know all of it.

 

Wonder if there's a WordPress fork in the near future...

 

https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/blog/acf-plugin-no-longer-available-on-wordpress-org/

 

What a mess. And that Tweet is 100% going to shown as an exhibit in the lawsuit.

Edited October 14, 2024Oct 14 by Time Wizard Cosmo

I'm pushing for my company to move towards alternative CMSes, such as Directus, or even gasp Drupal. For my own personal sites, I'm moving to Ghost, or ClassicPress.

The best thing that can happen is for Matt to cease all communications via written, interviews, and replies. The only person who has damaged the Wordpress community is him. The trust for plugin and theme devs is being eroded as Matt can make the sole decision in whether a popular plugin can/will be taken over by Wordpress. The longer this goes on, many freelancer clients and the agencies who rely on Wordpress will start to look into other CMSs as the single point of instability, Matt, can cause so much damage.

The best thing that can happen is for Matt to cease all communications via written, interviews, and replies. The only person who has damaged the Wordpress community is him. The trust for plugin and theme devs is being eroded as Matt can make the sole decision in whether a popular plugin can/will be taken over by Wordpress. The longer this goes on, many freelancer clients and the agencies who rely on Wordpress will start to look into other CMSs as the single point of instability, Matt, can cause so much damage.

Agreed. It's ridiculous and he's power hungry. I hope in court these wrongfully acquisitions are being penalized and brought back to their original developer. But what I hope the most, is that other developers take notes and know this can happen to them as well. So in that regards, maybe we'll see a new CMS rising soon.

Agreed. It's ridiculous and he's power hungry. I hope in court these wrongfully acquisitions are being penalized and brought back to their original developer. But what I hope the most, is that other developers take notes and know this can happen to them as well. So in that regards, maybe we'll see a new CMS rising soon.

Out of curiosity, I was looking at some alternatives and Craft CMS, Webflow, and October seem to be just as capable for people who would want to look into Wordpress-like features. There's also Ghost which is more focused on blogging and newsletter publications.

I spent years building on Webflow for various clients and have nothing but good things to say about it. There are definite limits compared to a DIY setup like Ghost or Drupal, but the tradeoff is a wonderful UI experience. It's not for every kind of site, especially large data driven ones, but it's a great choice for someone who is more into design principles than code.

 

Matt really does just need to stop talking though.

As a developer with an agency that does a fair amount of WP sites, I am of course paying attention to this.

 

It's been a few weeks since it kicked off and there's no sign of stopping yet. The injunction from WPE against Automattic has some very dark details about how this campaign has been going, and while it's trivially easy to feel all Chicken Little (The Sky Is Falling) about it, I think we're potentially seeing a volcano about to erupt.

 

I don't think that's even a bad thing for the ecosystem as a whole because it would goad WP into actually figuring out where their priorities are at, who their customers are, who their advocates are and who can really be trusted in this situation.

There’s a court filing from Automatic(Wordpress) for a moved up timeline on WpEngine.

 

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.437474/gov.uscourts.cand.437474.33.0.pdf

 

 

Basically, thanks to a reddit user for the run on new court filing (https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/s/r2HfKvRwZk)

Some key tidbits from the document and their argument:

 

Rather than being about access to WordPress software, this case instead is about WordPress.org – a website owned and run by Defendant Matt Mullenweg individually, for the benefit of the community he loves.

WordPress.org is not WordPress. WordPress.org is not Automattic or the WordPress Foundation, and is not controlled by either.

 

To the contrary, as Plaintiff itself acknowledges, WordPress.org is Mr. Mullenweg’s responsibility. Mr. Mullenweg has no contracts, agreements, or obligation to provide WP Engine access to the network and resources of WordPress.org.

WP Engine points to no terms, conditions, or permissions that entitle them to such access. Nevertheless, WP Engine, a private equity-backed company, made the unilateral decision, at its own risk, to build a multi-billion dollar business around Mr. Mullenweg’s website. In doing so, WP Engine gambled for the sake of profit that Mr. Mullenweg would continue to maintain open access to his website for free.

 

That was their choice.

Now, because of WP Engine’s conduct, because of the threat WP Engine poses to the beloved community Mr. Mullenweg has worked so hard to build, and because of WP Engine’s legal threats and actions against him personally, Mr. Mullenweg has decided that he no longer will provide free access to his website to the corporation that is suing him. Understandably, WP Engine is not happy with Mr. Mullenweg’s decision, and this lawsuit is WP Engine’s attempt to use this Court to compel the access it never secured by contract and has no right to by law.

 

And this:

 

More broadly, WP Engine’s protestations of prejudice ring hollow because, as even its own administrative motion implicitly makes clear, WP Engine only has itself to blame for its current predicament. The purported harm WP Engine describes in its administrative motion results directly from its decision to build its business around a third-party website – Mr. Mullenweg’s website – that WP Engine has no legal entitlement to access or use.

WP Engine’s preliminary injunction Motion asks this Court to compel that access, to require specific performance of a contract that does not exist, and to force Mr. Mullenweg to continue to provide free services to a private equity-backed company that would rather not expend the resources itself. There is no basis in law or equity for the Court to do so. Given the dramatic, factually unwarranted, and legally unsupportable effect the injunction sought by Plaintiff’s Motion would have on Defendants, Defendants should be afforded the ordinary two-week period provided by the local rules in order to oppose Plaintiff’s preliminary injunction Motion.

 

To sum it up, Automattic/Matt are arguing that the crux of the issue is around publishing WP Engine's products on wordpress.org and they're arguing that they're not required to do it (probably true) and that the injunction should be dismissed because they never entered into an agreement with WP Engine to publish and host their products (arguable since they did host it for years without issue, provided financial backing to WP Engine, and never had a problem with hosting their products until a few weeks ago).

 

For bystanders, this issue transcends hosting the ACF plugin in the repository. Matt also explicitly attempted to extort WP Engine (because he had no basis to demand anything from them) and admitted that he only using the trademark to try and leverage value out of them.

 

Before stealing the ACF listing he explicitly asked if ACF should be brought into core (after ignoring it for ages) and mentioned there'd be developments on that coming soon. Soon after the security team found issues with the plugin out of nowhere and they stole it.

WP Engine, a private equity-backed company, made the unilateral decision, at its own risk, to build a multi-billion dollar business around Mr. Mullenweg’s website. In doing so, WP Engine gambled for the sake of profit that Mr. Mullenweg would continue to maintain open access to his website for free.

 

Remember kids, don't build your for-profit website using WordPress. (The fact it's private-equity backed isn't relevant - Automattic is also PE backed, and was previously a direct investor in WPE for a number of years, which just goes to show this isn't about the trademark usage but the fact that Automattic isn't getting its pound of flesh, and everything here is in service to that.)

But wait! There's more!

 

Developers Remove Plugins From WordPress.org Repository After ACF Controversy

 

Several plugin authors are removing their plugins from the WordPress.org repository following the ACF to Secure Custom Fields fork incident. Gravity PDF, BE Media from Production, and Paid Memberships Pro are among the notable plugins transitioning to self-hosted distribution. Concerns about WordPress.org’s actions and potential security risks have prompted these moves.

 

It seems the purge is starting. Read more here:

 

https://wptavern.com/developers-remove-plugins-from-wordpress-org-repository-after-acf-controversy?ref=dailydev

And many more will follow.