In a surprising turn of events, Automattic’s CEO and co-creator of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, has deactivated several WordPress.org community member accounts. This move has sparked significant discussion, especially as some of these members were promoting the idea of creating a fork — a separate version of the WordPress open-source project.
The controversy began in September when Mullenweg criticized WP Engine, a commercial hosting service based on WordPress, for allegedly profiting without contributing sufficiently to the community. The tension escalated, leading to a lawsuit from WP Engine after it was barred from accessing crucial WordPress resources. Following a court ruling, WordPress was mandated to restore their access.
Amidst the growing tension within the community, influential figures like Joost de Valk, creator of the Yoast SEO tool for WordPress, expressed their visions for a “New WordPress Era.” De Valk hinted at creating federated and independent repositories as part of a potential new fork. Karim Marucchi, CEO of Crowd Favorite, also supported this vision, providing a corporate backing to these community-driven efforts.
WP Engine has indicated its readiness to support this endeavor, potentially providing corporate resources to the initiative. Interestingly, Mullenweg has shown support for the idea of a new WordPress fork. Forking allows for the creation of a parallel project, offering opportunities for diverse contributions and community growth, while keeping the door open for future integration with the original project.
In response to these developments, Automattic announced a reduction in its contributions to the core WordPress project to match those of WP Engine. This prompted de Valk to step forward, signaling his willingness to lead the next WordPress release with Marucchi’s team on standby to assist.
Despite collectively dedicating an estimated 10 hours weekly to the WordPress open source project, their accounts, along with a few others, were deactivated by Mullenweg. In a blog post filled with irony, Mullenweg positioned this move as a gentle nudge to those aiming to pursue leadership models outside his current governance structure.
Mullenweg also deactivated accounts belonging to Sé Reed, Heather Burns, and Morten Rand-Hendriksen. Reed is president and CEO of the WP Community Collective, a new non-profit aiming to be a collaborative and neutral hub for WordPress contributions. Burns, no longer involved with WordPress since 2020, expressed surprise, while Rand-Hendriksen implies past disagreements about WordPress governance as a possible reason for their targeting.
Deactivating these accounts limits their contributions through the WordPress.org platform but doesn’t stop them from engaging in the open-source environment on GitHub or creating a new fork. Mullenweg humorously proposed naming any new fork “JKPress,” suggesting a potential joint summit with WordPress in the future.
He seemed genuinely interested in the development and outcome of new ideas, expressing the sentiment that the open-source model is perfect for such innovative explorations. The possibility of merging successful ideas back into WordPress highlights the dynamic nature of open-source projects. This situation encapsulates how open-source environments thrive through constant evolution and community-driven change.
