Highlights from Matt Mullenweg’s Spiciest Word Camp Presentation at WordCamp US 2024

The highly anticipated Q&A session with Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp US kicked off with him stating, “This might be one of my spiciest WordCamp presentations ever.” He opened the session by reading his recent article, WordCamp US & Ecosystem Thinking, set against the backdrop of jazz music. Matt then used the analogy of the “Tragedy of the Commons” to discuss the importance of Five for the Future. He also addressed his cryptic tweets and warned about the potential threat of private equity hollowing out and undermining open-source communities.

Key Points from the Q&A Session

This might be the last Word Camp you see WP engine have a booth at.

– Matt Mullenweg

Matt said that most of the information he’s about to share in the presentation has come from WP Engine employees who reached out to him. WPEngine is controlled by Silver Lake a Private Equity Firm that in Matt’s words “doesn’t give a dang about your open source ideals it just wants return on Capital.”

He went on to discuss the fate of other companies Silver Lake has acquired. In 2010, they bought 25% of Talend and proceeded to monetize its open-source user base, eventually generating 20x returns over seven years. Silver Lake also bought 5% of Unity for $400 million and raised prices drastically, leading to multiple CEO changes and the rise of the open-source alternative, Godot Game Engine.

Silver Lake, valued at $102 billion, also owns WP Engine, but Mullenweg criticized the company for contributing little to the WordPress community’s “Five for the Future” initiative. He referred to Lee Wittlinger, the Managing Director of Silver Lake, as “a schoolyard bully” and announced that WP Engine would no longer be allowed at future WordCamps.

Mullenweg offered to return the $75,000 WP Engine had paid to be a Super Admin Sponsor and also accused them of misusing the WordPress trademark. “WP Engine sounds like WordPress, and their colors are even similar to WP’s blue. There’s brand confusion.”

He also touched on broader issues, noting that WordPress growth had slowed in the last 18 months, partly due to changes in W3 Techs’ methodology and non-contributing companies outcompeting contributing ones. However, he pointed out that WordPress had recently regained momentum and “grown an entire Drupal of market share.”

What we create together is bigger than any one person.

– Matt Mullenweg

Matt admitted he didn’t want to make the presentation but felt compelled to speak out against bad actors. “The only way to fight a bully is to fight them back. If you just allow them to run rampant on the playground they’re just going to keep terrorizing everyone.”

Mullenweg explained that he had attempted to discuss increasing WP Engine’s contributions, but after receiving no positive response, he felt it necessary to call them out publicly. He encouraged users to consider switching to hosts that actively contribute to WordPress when their WP Engine contracts are up for renewal. He also emphasized that WP Engine employees are not at fault and that he supports those who speak out about their company’s lack of participation in the WordPress community.

Mullenweg also shared some exciting developments for WordPress, including upcoming Google Docs-like collaboration features. He stressed the importance of software licenses, likening them to the Constitution, as they guarantee freedom. Additionally, he expressed his pride in seeing WordPress adopted by the U.S. Army and the federal government.

A fan of AI, Mullenweg advised developers to explore AI-assisted tools like Cursor and also promised to honor Jessica Lyschik’s Speed Build Challenge.

The video of Matt Mullenweg’s Q&A session at WordCamp US is now available on YouTube.

Phase 2 – Matt’s Next Steps

Matt’s statements at the WordCamp session were just the beginning. He then followed up the attack on WP Engine by publishing WP Engine is not WordPress in WordPress.org. One of his major criticisms was that WP Engine is the only WordPress hosting provider that disables revisions by default.

He didn’t mince words, stating, “What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress, it’s something that they’ve chopped up, hacked, butchered to look like WordPress, but actually they’re giving you a cheap knock-off and charging you more for it. This is one of the many reasons they are a cancer to WordPress, and it’s important to remember that unchecked, cancer will spread.”

“WP Engine is setting a poor standard that others may look at and think is ok to replicate. We must set a higher standard to ensure WordPress is here for the next 100 years.”, he continued.

He then launched a Twitter poll asking the community if WP Engine should be allowed to have a booth at the next WordCamp, and the majority voted in favor of WP Engine’s continued presence.

Response From WP Engine

In response, WP Engine published a blog post titled Highlighting Over a Decade of Innovation and Contribution to the WordPress Community. In it, they detailed their contributions to WordPress, including sponsoring WordCamps, organizing educational events like DE{CODE}, and empowering the WordPress community through content like the WordPress Roundup and Building WordPress series. They also highlighted their products like Faust.js, WPGraphQL, Headless WordPress platform, Local, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), and Genesis Blocks.

However, WP Engine did not address any of Mullenweg’s specific accusations. They concluded their post by reaffirming their dedication to WordPress, saying, “WP Engine’s commitment to WordPress and its passionate community is unwavering…WP Engine will remain at the forefront, finding new and exciting ways to drive the WordPress ecosystem’s success for years to come in partnership with this vibrant, innovative community.”

Community Reactions

Matt Mullenweg’s comments sparked intense debate within the WordPress community, leaving it shocked and divided. While some rallied behind Matt, even going so far as to cancel their WP Engine subscriptions, others were uncomfortable with his approach.

Rodolfo Melogli, founder of Business Bloomer tweeted, “I don’t think a CEO should attack people/corps based on personal opinions, no matter if right or wrong. Not good for the WordPress ecosystem tbh.”

Nate Finch, author at Level Up Tutorials suggested, “As far as I know, there is no requirement that any company that sponsors a WordCamp be involved with 5FTF, let only hit a certain threshold. If this is the case, and maybe it should be a requirement, it should be added to the sponsor agreement for WordCamps.”

“It’s not enough to provide services and products and marketing at WordCamps; if you’re making millions of dollars off WordPress I think we all can agree you really need to contribute some real hard value back into it.”, said Seth Rubenstein of Pew Research Center.

Hendrik Luehrsen, CEO of Luehrsen // Heinrich was worried, “With his recent remarks, @photomatt may have just killed the #FFTF program. It’s a tough sell to maintain public profiles on a platform that can be weaponized against someone – deserved or not.” However, Matt assured that his goal is to raise awareness of the 5FTF initiative.

“You can’t really promote the benefits of open source and then moan when companies build on that free platform and monetize it.” tweeted WPTuts.

WPHercules published WordPress.com is not WordPress as a parody countering WP Engine is not WordPress. They point out that “plugin extensibility is sacred,” but WordPress.com restricts plugin installation in lower-priced plans.

Andrew Palmer, in The Complex Dynamics of WordPress: A Passionate Critique, pointed out Matt’s difficulty letting go of certain issues, which at times contradicted his own WordPress philosophy. He recommended elevating other leaders within the WordPress community to help balance decision-making and ensure clearer guidance and recognition of contributions.

Kevin Geary’s WordPress’ Big “Tragedy of the Commons” Problem shares, “The problem is that Matt is putting a massively important project, and our future, in the hands of a historically failed model. Some of the smartest minds in economics have arrived at another obvious conclusion when tackling the Tragedy of the Commons problem: owned land is better cared for than public land because it benefits the private owner to protect and care for it.”

He suggests, “WordPress should be driven by a proper funding model, a proper visionary, a consistent core development team, and consistent marketing.”

James Giroux analyzed Matt’s actions as a Project Lead in WCUS: Freedom Isn’t Free. “Matt is the Project Lead, and he has a track record of calling things out in a direct, and sometimes uncomfortable way…I think it’s pretty hypocritical to say that Matt is mean or a bully while also saying things like “it’s because Matt wants Automattic to win” or “it’s because Matt doesn’t like competitors to Automattic”.

Another hot topic was the brand confusion Matt highlighted between WP Engine and WordPress. Robert DeVore pointed out that more people are confused by WordPress.org vs WordPress.com than by WordPress vs WP Engine. Daniel Schutzsmith also shared his experience with a client who faced the same confusion.

Discussions are taking place on Reddit too.

Pantheon & GoDaddy – Then & Now

Matt’s criticism of companies is not new. One of the most memorable incidents took place the night before WordCamp US 2016 when Pantheon’s $100K sponsorship was abruptly revoked. Their promotional materials, including their booth, were stashed away in a storage room, and the sponsorship fee was later refunded in full.

Fast forward to this year’s WordCamp, and Pantheon returned as an Editor Sponsor alongside Automattic. Courtney Robertson of GoDaddy tweeted: “Wild how we are all talking about @wpengine and not the elevator doors from Pantheon sponsored. I would like to know more about standards changing.”

In 2022, Matt identified GoDaddy as a “Parasitic Company” and an “Existential Threat to WordPress’ Future”. And this year, the very same GoDaddy was a Super Admin sponsor. They sponsored Courtney Robertson for Contributor’s Day and allotted $2,000 for eight self-funded Table Lead contributors. Matt even mentioned their contributions in his Ecosystem Thinking article.

(This concludes Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2.)