?? The WP Community Goes Nuclear; Can It Be Saved?

Unless you've been living under a rock, the past two weeks have ignited the WordPress community.

Matt Mullenweg's keynote speech at WordCamp US accused WP Engine of not contributing to the WordPress open-source project (as much as he and Automattic do) and infringing the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.

Matt demanded via a Term Sheet that WP Engine pay them 8% of their gross revenue (assumed at tens of millions USD per year), contribute the equivalent in people hours to the core app, or a combination of both.

WordPress is an open-source project licensed under GPL, and no legal requirements exist that anyone must contribute back to the project development.? That's one of the core freedoms GPL offers.

Both parties have served a cease and desist order on each other, and WP Engine has filed a federal lawsuit against Mullenweg and Automattic for alleged libel and attempted extortion.

To say the situation has gone south very quickly is an understatement.

There are now restrictions in place to access previously free WordPress resources like WordPress.org and WordCamp.org.

Anyone who wants to log in to WordPress.org and WordCamp.org must check a box that says, "I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financial or otherwise.

The checkbox has the HTML class "login-lawsuit." It's reasonable to assume that this is a legal agreement that could have consequences later on.

It may seem like just "a checkbox on WordPress.org," but it's part of the terms and conditions for signing in to use their website and services. I can only log in if I agree and check that box.

The ambiguous wording led to a huge conversation on the #meta channel of the Making WordPress Slack group, with people asking Matt for clarification.?

Does this mean being a WP Engine customer, owning a paid license to a WP Engine commercial plugin like ACF Pro, or being an organiser of a WordCamp for which WP Engine is a sponsor?? Many more questions were asked about what defines "affiliated".

Matt Mullenweg has refused to clarify what that statement means.

I had originally prepared a lengthy newsletter outlining my opinions on some of the developments and conversations in this saga.

However, several long-term senior WordPress experts and contributors like Ryan McCue have had their access banned to WordPress.org, Making WordPress Slack, and @WordPress on X for simply having a conversation and disagreeing with Matt Mullenweg's actions and statements.

I feel my own career may be jeopardised if I publish my original newsletter.

So much for the promises of "freedom" that we expect from the WordPress community, especially its overlord.

The WP community had it tough through COVID-19, and we're just finding our feet again.

I don't like what's happening. I disagree with much of what's been said and is being actioned, and I feel the WordPress community suffers due to this madness.?

With three weeks to go until WordCamp Sydney and over 300 logged voluntary hours organising effort, I can't log in to the event's website, hosted on WordCamp.org, without clarity about the consequences of the new login checkbox.

I'm praying for a fast resolution. ??

Until next time, keep thriving!

Wil.

PS: Grab your $70 dollarbucks ticket to WordCamp Sydney. We have some amazing speakers!