←back to thread

Matt Mullenweg deactivates WordPress accounts of contributors planning a fork

(techcrunch.com)
465 points impish9208 | 9 comments | 11 Jan 25 18:14 UTC | HN request time: 0.438s | source | bottom
Show context
rmccue ◴[11 Jan 25 23:44 UTC] No.42669910[source]▶
This isn’t unexpected; I’ve been deactivated on Slack since very early in this dispute, and later banned from the issue tracker as well. I’ve been contributing for 20 years to the project, am a committer, and built several large parts of WordPress including the REST API.

Matt is banning anyone who speaks out at all, even when they agree with points he’s made. A large group of contributors felt they had to make an anonymous statement from fear of the same retribution I suffered: https://www.therepository.email/core-contributors-voice-conc...

(I am a less active direct contributor these days, so I’m still able to contribute even while blocked - but many people’s livelihoods depend on it, as sponsored contributors.)

replies(6): >>42670355 #>>42670549 #>>42671273 #>>42672607 #>>42672957 #>>42673573 #
wyclif ◴[12 Jan 25 01:19 UTC] No.42670355[source]▶
I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that Matt Mullenweg is in desperate need of an intervention. Seriously, the man should seek professional help.
replies(10): >>42670614 #>>42670629 #>>42670994 #>>42671311 #>>42671328 #>>42671556 #>>42671585 #>>42671719 #>>42672397 #>>42675302 #
1. gigatexal ◴[12 Jan 25 05:41 UTC] No.42671556[source]▶
Let him destroy Wordpress with his antics. Something better will emerge and it’ll not have this man-child at the helm.
replies(2): >>42671946 #>>42672030 #
2. chii ◴[12 Jan 25 07:44 UTC] No.42671946[source]▶
not really - there's a lot of existing investment in wordpress which would be lost if this is the case.

I think it's better for wordpress community to push out Mullenweg, and establish a community owned source. It is both a fork, but not just of the source code.

I think surviving this sort of disaster makes the whole stronger/resilient in the future. Starting anew will surely just have history repeat.

replies(1): >>42672848 #
3. gigatexal ◴[12 Jan 25 11:34 UTC] No.42672838[source]▶
“Something better will emerge” could be a libre fork of the project without him. He is the problem.

But also technically it would be (inertia not withstanding) good if the project were replaced with something else, something better.

Django with plugins could be made to look like and work similar to Wordpress I bet.

replies(2): >>42672913 #>>42673404 #
4. gigatexal ◴[12 Jan 25 11:37 UTC] No.42672848[source]▶
Pushing out a founder is fine and all and I’m here for it to happen.
5. siquick ◴[12 Jan 25 11:53 UTC] No.42672913{3}[source]▶
> Django with plugins could be made to look like and work similar to Wordpress I bet.

https://wagtail.org/ is a solid CMS

replies(2): >>42681174 #>>42681659 #
6. JBiserkov ◴[12 Jan 25 13:31 UTC] No.42673404{3}[source]▶
> could be a libre fork of the project

They should call it PressWord.

Then get a ton of free publicity when Microsoft sues them.

replies(1): >>42674834 #
7. gigatexal ◴[12 Jan 25 16:48 UTC] No.42674834{4}[source]▶
I like FreePress or LibrePress
8. gigatexal ◴[13 Jan 25 08:06 UTC] No.42681174{4}[source]▶
Thanks for sharing. I had no idea about them. Taking a look
9. aitchnyu ◴[13 Jan 25 09:33 UTC] No.42681659{4}[source]▶
I'm a Python fan condescending on PHP, but doesnt the world still depend on deploying instantly via FTP and cheap hosts enjoying the low overhead of a 100000 sites on a server? On the other hand, cheapest Namecheap and Digitalocean plans are neck to neck on first glance.