The founder of the WordPress project is locked in a legal and PR battle with hosting company WP Engine.
I’m a WordPress developer. I’ve been a web developer since 1994 — one of the first in Philadelphia. For maybe a decade, I’ve been developing almost exclusively in WordPress.
It’s the most popular platform for website development — but that’s not why I use it. I just like it. When I first tried it, despite its imperfections, I liked it.
For me, it’s the right tool and if I believe in anything in this crazy world, it’s using the right tool.
Sometimes the right tool isn’t popular. In the early years of the web, I tried (and fell in love) with a tiny script that embedded fonts in a website — BEFORE websites used anything except the fonts native on the users computer. I used it — at least for awhile — even though it never caught on.
It was impressive and decades ahead of its time.
And I discovered and used an obscure tool called FutureSplash Creator. It was what I needed — it allowed me to use vector graphics — which were important because they are smaller image files when bandwidth was tiny (people used dial up) — even for animation. This obscure software took off when it was purchased by Macromedia and renamed Flash.
Oh, and how in those days I loved the text editor BBEdit!
So, it’s 2024 and I use WordPress. But there’s a problem, or at least a potential problem.
Innocent Bystanders
I oppose war. Period. I believe they should be ended by soldiers refusing to fight. I don’t think, for the most part, leaders anywhere are worth a damn.
They’re generally removed from reality and cheerfully killing people because, for them, other human beings are merely an abstraction. That doesn’t fly with me.
Well, the current WordPress Wars are a lot less bloody and certainly not as important. But like military wars, they are stupid and unnecessary and should be resisted by those that the factions want to elist.
WordPress is a great piece of software and it’s impressive that it’s free. WP Engine is a solid hosting company and, in the past, I both recommended and purchased their service.
But they need to stop, shake hands and work out their little differences. You know why? Because what makes WordPress so impressive is the community of WordPress developers and enthusiasts. It’s the people—not the software.
I am co-organizer of the WordPress Philly Meetup—a group that is 3,300+ strong. WE are WordPress. WE are the web community. WE represent the past, the present and the future of the Internet.
My views expressed here are only my views—not necessarily representative of the group itself.
The founder of WordPress and the management at WP Engine—they have their good points. They’ve both created things, built things. But now they are destroying. Now they are making big mistakes. Now they are killing their own golden goose.
The WordPress community, we the goslings, want no part of this. We are creators and we want to create. We WILL create. Even if WordPress dies. BBEdit and other development tools still exist.
Or we can simply fork WordPress and make a version that serves us, and not the egos of two silly leaders who have lost their way.
C’mon back Matt. C’mon back WP Engine executives. We are here to welcome you back into the fold. We, the WordPress community, is bigger than your petty squabbles. But if you keep battling, we will leave both of you terribly alone. I won’t be wounded in your battles.
It’s your choice.
Please follow me on Medium. Oh, and the WordPress Philly Meetup is looking for a sponsor for it’s in-person monthly meeting space. If you work for a company that might be interested, read about this sponsorship opportunity HERE. Sponsors will get their brand seen by 3,300+ WordPress enthusiasts every month, on our Meetup chat—and seen by the members who attend the live meetings.
