I know there’s been a lot of frustration directed at me specifically. Some of it, I believe, is misplaced—but I also understand where it’s coming from.
The passing of Pope Francis has deeply impacted me. While I still disagree with the Church on many issues, he was the Pope who broke the mold in so many ways, inspiring me and drawing me back to the Catholic faith I grew up with, with an emphasis on service, compassion, and humility. His passing on Easter Monday, a holiday about rebirth, feels historic. Moments like that invite reflection—not just on personal choices, but on the broader systems we’re a part of.
My life, which was primarily about generative creative work that was free for everyone to use, has been subsumed by legal battles. From the start, I’ve said this: after many rounds of negotiation that I approached in good faith, WPE chose to sue. In hindsight, those conversations weren’t held in the same spirit, and that’s unfortunate.
But we can’t rewrite the past. What we can do is decide how we move forward.
The maker-taker problem, at the heart of what we’ve been wrestling with, doesn’t disappear by avoiding it. If we’re serious about contributing to the future of open source, and about preserving the legacy of what we’ve built together, we need space to reset. That can’t happen under the weight of ongoing litigation. The cards are in WPE hands, a fight they’ve started and refuse to end.
So I’m asking for a moment of reflection for us all as stewards of a shared ecosystem. Let’s not lose sight of that.
Thank you for sharing this so openly.
As someone who’s been part of this journey for a long time, I know how much care and intention you’ve always brought to these conversations, even the difficult ones. It’s easy to lose sight of shared values when things get heated or legal, but I believe deeply that our work in open source has always been about more than code or competition. It’s about people, trust, and the long-term health of the ecosystem.
You’re right: the maker-taker dynamic doesn’t fix itself. And we can’t be expected to step in and help if the foundation we’re standing on is under attack. This lawsuit isn’t just a procedural issue, it’s a wedge that prevents collaboration at a time when we need it most.
I support your call for reflection and a reset. Not just for the sake of resolution, but for the future we’re all still trying to build together.
I can see a different tone here! ☺️
Keep at it, Matt. Take it slow, but steady. You’re highly valued and what you’ve built that empowers so many. Don’t let the legal pressures get to you. Just see it out, one step at a time, and see where it takes you (us). You’ll be fine – just fine – regardless of the ultimate outcome – but if it goes your way, even a little, you’ll have improved things for many, even outside of the WP ecosphere. Just enjoy the ride and even the frustration. You’ve always been a peacekeeper and quiet builder; you’re entitled to be a little opinionated beyond Gutenberg on a few things and I’ve actually admired seeing you take your own stand on this. Like Gutenberg, history will likely look back and see you were right about this, too.
I feel certain that a compromise can be reached here. No one like’s conflict.
The bridges, as I have said to you before, are severely scorched but still intact – you have now taken the first step to repairing the damage caused by this dreadful fallout by welcoming back personas that you and WordPress have excluded.
All it will take is a walk across those bridges to a table, break bread, admit mistakes (on all sides) and allow the community to get back to what it does best – Contribute, Sponsor, Support and Grow.
You know my thoughts on monetising dot org – Every single commercial plugin that has a free version that converts to a paid version via dot org – makes a simple $1 donation per install to the WordPress dot org eco system. Every single web host contributes $1 per WordPress install – pennies, will turn into millions of dollars. To me, it is a no brainer. It takes away the makers and takers argument, immediately. Everyone that uses WordPress for profit will end up contributing.
As to sponsoring developers to work on the eco system – it will be paid for out of that contribution. Simple, effective and easy to implement. If it means changing the legal structure of dot org – so be it. Change, can be a good thing.
What if the customers starts installing, uninstalling and reinstalling the plugins, WordPress instances multiple times on a web host? Won’t it cost a lot for the web host?
How about having a small license fee for using it?
– Paid by the host.
– Could be used by the customer
Fair point well made, the measure would be on live domains – The hosts could have a three month window to cover churn.
Now that makes sense…
There’s a common saying: If you want to make everyone happy, sell ice cream.
Leadership—especially in open source, and particularly within the WordPress ecosystem—comes with both great influence and heavy responsibility. Without strong leadership, we wouldn’t have reached the level of success we see today.
Unfortunately, that leadership also means bearing the weight of legal obligations and responding to voices that may not fully understand the context or complexities involved.
But it’s important to remember: you don’t need to make everyone happy. Stand firm in your support for open source. Delegate responsibilities to the appropriate teams within the community—because delegation is a vital part of leadership, and so is trusting people. With that trust, you can reclaim more time and energy for the creative work that truly drives progress.
I sincerely hope for the best. And I believe it’s important for people to understand: the infrastructure of WordPress.com or Automattic is not public property. Let’s not blur the lines between community and company.
Thanks for your post, Matt.
I can’t say I had “the Pope” on my bingo card for the next chapter of the WPDrama—but here we are.
That said, I believe I speak for many agency owners when I say: we don’t mind how it happens—what matters is getting everyone back around the table to resolve this ongoing situation with WP Engine.
WordPress is better than this. Moving to a single annual release risks stalling the platform’s evolution and gives competitors more room to catch up—or overtake.
Hopefully, in time, there’s also space to lift bans on individuals, welcome them back with open arms, and create an environment where diverse ideas are valued. That’s the path to getting WordPress back on track as the no.1 CMS for years to come.
Looking forward to your next update—and hoping it brings some much-needed resolution to all of this.
True, as long as folks get back in the room and fix what actually matters. WordPress deserves better than all this.
I don’t know the best word to describe this, but the first two paragraphs feel like they’re leading into an entirely different direction than what you seem to be getting at. It reads more like “I’ve spent some time to reflect on the fight between me and WPE, and I’ve come to realize that I’m still right and WPE is still wrong.” The only thing you seem to have changed your mind on is that now you retroactively think WPE was acting in bad faith, but even that doesn’t seem to be a new revelation for you because you’ve said in the past that they were “casting aspirations on your attempt to make a fair deal”[1] and that their Cease-and-Desist was “about censorship”[2].
Additionally, I don’t think WPE was the one who “started” this fight. They may have raised the lawsuit, yes, but it wasn’t until *after* you called them a “cancer to WordPress”[3] and blocked them from accessing WordPress resources[4] that were critical to their business and the security of their customer’s websites.
I can understand and sympathize with you on the maker-taker problem. As your friend Dries Buytaert said[5], it’s one of the final major problems in the open source ecosystem. But at the same time, if I put myself in WPE’s shoes, I’d feel like that was their only reasonable course of action to prevent you from strongarming them into doing whatever you want them to so that they can continue to run their business at all.
[1] https://ma.tt/2024/09/wordpress-engine/
[2] https://ma.tt/2024/10/on-dhh/
[3] https://wordpress.org/news/2024/09/wp-engine/ – By the way to answer the question posed in the article as to why WPE turns off post revisions: they answer it just above the part of their article that you screenshotted. “While great in theory, revisions cause the database to grow exponentially and a large database can directly impact site performance.” This is visible on archived versions of the site dated even before your article was posted. https://web.archive.org/web/20240902025341/https://wpengine.com/support/platform-settings/#Post_Revisions
[4] https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/25/wordpress-org-bans-wp-engine-blocks-it-from-accessing-its-resources/
[5] https://dri.es/solving-the-maker-taker-problem
We didn’t abuse WP Engine’s trademarks, they abused the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks, which started the discussions, which were very friendly for years.
I deeply appreciate this. I was thinking about our conversation last year about the rituals of the Catholic faith, and how I chose to distance myself (but not leave; it’s like leaving being Filipino, it’s always a part of me) from the Church, but Pope Francis is the one who is drawing me back. It had been easy to view the Pope when he was alive as a kind, generous man who occasionally challenged orthodoxy, but reading and watching the piles and piles of tributes, the stacks and stacks of stories large and small about his singular humanity, the way he embodied compassion and grace and humility — it’s more than a reminder, he was literally a capital-E Epiphany.
I hope you post more about your spiritual journey over the coming months.
When I got to the part about the “maker-taker” problem, I didn’t think about WP Engine. Instead, I thought about what’s happening around the world, with authoritarian governments like Russia attempting to wrestle fragile democracies, and people feeling helpless to do anything about it. That is the “maker-taker” problem at a global scale, with a rapacious taker seeking to take advantage of any vulnerabilities they can find in fledgling communities, recruiting like-minded “allies” who share their desire for growth at all costs, at any expense, even that of human beings.
I wrote about this on my blog, previously I wrote an article on teknotr.com about Drupal CEO Dries Buytaert’s maker-taker and open source issues. For the first time since WP Drama, Matt has taken a positive step for open and clear peace, I don’t know if this is related to the lawsuit or not. This is responsibility for both sides. They should do it for open source WordPress and its community, which provides the infrastructure for more than half of the web and has been liberating writing, e-commerce, websites for a quarter of a century. Matt has taken the first step. WP Engine must step in for a solution.
Seems like a lot of unnecessary drama that is going to last for several more years. I guess those already invested in WP will probably choose to deal with it, for a while anyway. Any businesses just starting out should probably use one of the alternatives.
Hmm, it surely looks like that. Hopefully, they will find a middle ground soon.
I lost the trust and faith in WP, moved to Kirby. Don’t have to spend $300 year for a blog.
Thank you for sharing your honest and heartfelt reflections. I understand that this is not an easy time, but I want to remind you of something very important:
WordPress has not only transformed the internet — it has created millions of job opportunities, supported countless happy families, made dreams come true, and helped entire communities grow by supporting one another.
You were the path that made this incredible project possible, planting a seed that continues to flourish thanks to the collective efforts of the community.
I hope you feel proud of everything you have inspired. Beyond the current challenges, your legacy is immense and will continue to impact future generations in powerful ways.
Thank you for being such an inspiration to so many of us.
greetings from Mexico!
That’s true. But I have one suggestion for Matt, instead of becoming reactive (I know most of us are, and that is the problem) he needs to be more strategic towards handling these type of issues.
He seems to be handling things emotionally.