In this article, I use Matt Mullenweg’s response to a recent article based on an interview he gave to Inc. as a framework to outline some of the reasons why the WordPress project needs a new governance model. I support recent calls for this change. In addition to other reasons I have outlined in related posts, I recap here Matt’s departure from FLOSS ideals, his misrepresentation of his motives in attacking WP Engine, and in attempts to then cast himself as the victim. I then briefly discuss how the increasingly chaotic atmosphere in the community…
In this article, I highlight a few points of WordPress history that were early indicators of an eventual crisis in the project leadership. With increasing calls and support for a leadership change in the project, I review how the direction and goals set by Matt Mullenweg are increasingly at odds with FLOSS values and with the needs of the WordPress community. Matt’s needs are primarily aligned with Automattic’s over those of the community, and the strain is starting to show along numerous fault lines.
Most of the economic theory we operate under today dates back to Adam Smith in 1776. Smith made a fundamental assumption about individuals being motivated by self-interest, and used this motivation as a predictor for free market economic theory. Much of what was later based on Smith’s work miscasts his views somewhat, but for the past 250 years, the core assumption about individual motivations predicting group behaviour have been left largely unchallenged within our common conception and practice of economics. The assumption has been challenged and largely displaced in the academic study of economics, as…