In reply to Jeff Chandler.

...there is ONLY one way to satisfy everyone. Have Gutenberg as an option and not as a TinyMCE replacement.

I don't think it can be stressed enough how the tone of the entire discussion would change for the better with this oft repeated and obviously correct solution. To race through production of a new editor simply because one or a few people want it, and then to jam it down the throats of an active, supportive community is just plain wrong.

I think some answers are owed to the community. Why is it so important to have this as a replacement and not an option or plug-in? Why is Automattic paying employees to develop this at break-neck speed as a core item of WordPress? I keep reading about how separate the two are, but I tend to watch what people do and not what they say when there is a disconnect between the two. It has served me well in life.

I don't know what is happening with the head honcho's ego but we continue to read about decisions made that are contrary and even destructive to the wishes of the very community that keeps WP going. I've never met Matt Mullenweg, so I can only go on what I've read over the years. There should be NO grey area where Automattic ends and WordPress begins, but I sense that the community is getting more and more up in arms over the murky connection and how decisions over WordPress' path are being made.

Finally, I enjoy reading WP Tavern, but no matter what Mr. Chandler has said in the past, I put little to no stock in the objectivity of a site that is owned and financed by the same person who owns Automattic.

Over the last 4 or 5 years I've become more and more concerned over whether I'm giving my clients the best option when I suggest they use WordPress. I don't want to ever be in the position of having to defend some of these choices, because I simply can't. Sooner or later a general IT site with a very large readership is going to start investigating the ethics of Automattic and WordPress. You may be at the top of the heap now, but ask IBM and Pan Am how that worked out when people got too puffed up over how important they were. In the end, I like most others want only what's best for WordPress, and that can only be determined by all stakeholders in the community.