Every time Matt Mullenweg has lied, misrepresented, behaved in a questionable manner or had a nosebleed.
- 2024-10-23
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- 2024-09-29
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You cannot make this shit up. Matt Mullenweg tried to spend $500k+ to get @kendricklamar to record a WP Engine dis track. Excellent use of investor money right there folks. ~@kellie
Matt thinks he's Kendrick, but really, he's Drake. Maybe Kendrick is the person who can finally get through to him:
The audience not dumb
Shape the stories how you want, hey, [Matt], they're not slow
In Opposition/Response to Motion filed on 2024-10-22, Matt's lawyers describe WordPress.org as "Mr. Mullenweg’s website".
Rather than being about access to WordPress software, this case instead is about WordPress.org – a website owned and run by Defendant Matt Mullenweg individually, for the benefit of the community he loves.
The legal filing goes on to describe the mistake WP Engine made in building a business that relies on WordPress.org:
In doing so, WP Engine gambled for the sake of profit that Mr. Mullenweg would continue to maintain open access to his website for free.
Are we all taking the same gamble, that Matt will continue to provide open access to WordPress.org to us for free?
WordPress.org is not WordPress. WordPress.org is not Automattic or the WordPress Foundation, and is not controlled by either. To the contrary, as Plaintiff itself acknowledges, WordPress.org is Mr. Mullenweg’s responsibility.
Who pays for the WordPress.org servers, Matt? Who pays for the employee's full-time work on WordPress.org, Matt?
On Twitter, a former Automattic employee responds:
That is WILD considering that an entire division within @automattic is called DOTORG and we were all lead to believe that wordpress.org was the home of the open source project. ~@kellie
On October 2nd, Matt said this on Hacker News (source):
Automattic employs ~100 people that work full-time on WordPress.org. I can appoint them into positions on WordPress.org, if I think that's appropriate.
The legal filing also touches on the availability of WordPress itself:
WordPress is open source software that is, always has been, and remains freely available to Plaintiff— anyone in the world, including Plaintiff, can visit https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress and download WordPress software for their own use, for free.
Contrary to this statement, "Hardening WordPress" on WordPress.org warns never to do this.
The latest version of WordPress is always available from the main WordPress website at https://wordpress.org. Official releases are not available from other sites — never download or install WordPress from any website other than https://wordpress.org.
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Oct. 21, 2024 /BSNewswire/ -- Matthew Charles Mullenweg announces acquisition of Bullenweg.com to his employees at Automattic. Matthew had the following to say:
As a person with no grasp on what is true and what is not true, I am proud to announce the acquisition of Bullenweg.com. Bullenweg.com continues to be the best-organized source of everything going on. Bullenweg.com is doing important work because it is hard for any one person to keep up with all of my lies. I am optimistic that my announcement will suppress leaking from within Automattic to the website.*
Bullenweg founder B. Ullenweg, Esq. added:
Unfortunately, Matt's announcements about this acquisition has as much integrity as the rest of his claims. We hope that Matt reconsiders whether now is the time to further undermine his integrity by making false claims about his ownership over this website. We welcome a sincere attempt from Matt to acquire Bullenweg.com.
About Bullenweg.com:
Bullenweg.com is the leading independent source of information on the behavior of Matthew Charles Mullenweg.
* Not an actual quote from Matthew Mullenweg.
In My Freedom of Speech Matt writes:
WP Engine has filed hundreds pages of legal documents seeking an injunction against me and Automattic. They say this about community or some nonsense, but if you look at the core, what they’re trying to do is ask a judge to curtail my First Amendment rights.
Just yesterday, Matt introduced new speech-curtailing Code of Conduct rules for WordPress.org: Expanding Our Code of Conduct to Protect Private Conversations. A few days ago, Matt threatened "a big legal case" against someone for speaking out. Matt's (supposed) motivation for the dispute with WP Engine is an attempt to curtail their Freedom of Speech, "The problem [is] their use of the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.". WordPress.org is deleting reviews on the Secure Custom Fields plugin.
Fortunately, Matt has made progress. Matt has learned that the First Amendment also gives him the right to shut up. The post ends on a much more positive note.
Quiet For A While
After this post, I will refrain from personally commenting on the WP Engine case until a judge rules on the injunction.
Mark the date, Matt learned to shut up on 2024-10-20.
Matt acknowledges the pain caused by Automattic employees taking his "alignment" offers. Matt plans to resolve this by poaching WP Engine employees.
I’ll work on an official statement. Probably after we do the hiring offer for WPE employees. We’re really short staffed at the moment!
That may be awkward for someone who DM’d and will have a later last day (could be next year, even), but my priority is people staying, not people leaving. I’m hearing from people staying that they’re stretched thin right now, so we need to hire and ease that overload.
It’s not a time for a bunch of people to leave at once.
So, I ask people to continue fulfilling their confidentiality and work contracts.
Matt seems to suggest that some employees who accepted the alignment offer will be kept on ("will have a later last day").
antimattic.net has since provided more background on the above messages:
When asked if the offer was still valid he confirmed that it was. Shortly after he would board a flight to Hawaii.
Other Automatticians had messaged him to accept. A single additional name would be added to the Access-Checklist P2. With no further updates many assumed that only two people accepted this offer.
Slowly through calls, texts, and rumors word began to swirl that several other people had messaged him to accept the offer but the promised acknowledged response never came. The previous offer came the day ofter Mullenweg announced that going forward all resignations would be effective and have their access removed the same day.
Following Matt's escalating threats and actions, WP Engine file MOTION for Preliminary Injunction filed by WPEngine, Inc.
Mullenweg continues to make public statements promising to inflict more harm on WPE with each passing day. On October 7, Mullenweg bragged that he had caused chaos even while he was still on vacation, promising more “surprises for you all on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday” in connection with his war against WPE. Brunner ¶ 59, Brunner Ex. J at 1. On October 14, Mullenweg promised: “Oh, there’s more.” Teichman ¶ 28. Further confirming their malicious, anticompetitive intentions in blocking WPE from wordpress.org, Defendants have started contacting WPE customers to induce them to terminate their relationship with WPE and contract with Automattic instead.
[...]
And there are signs that this is just the beginning—the data also show a 375% increase in customers that have installed tools that will allow them to migrate to another provider, even if they have not yet announced they are terminating WPE’s contract. Id. ¶ 39. Even where a customer has not personally explained their rationale to WPE, the cause-and-effect can be seen not just in the contemporaneous nature of the drops, but also by statements made publicly by both WPE’s customers and Defendants. E.g., id. ¶¶ 35-37, 49. For instance, public posts have shown WPE customers saying such things as Defendants’ takeover of ACF “gave me a minor heart attack.” Teichman ¶¶ 44-45. For his part, Mullenweg has also provided a “forecast” of his own making, claiming that “millions” of customers will lose trust in WPE in the coming weeks, after he unveils future parts of his extortionate and vengeful campaign. Id. ¶ 43; Jenkins Ex. 11
[...]
WPE is informed and believes this “loyalty oath” mindset will soon escalate even further. WPE understands that Defendants will soon demand that agency partners must choose between doing business with WPE, or being similarly cut off from the WordPress community.
On October 14th, WordPress contributor Scott Kingsley Clark announced he was stepping down as leader of the Fields API team due to Matt Mullenweg's conduct. Scott Kingsley Clark is the lead developer of The Pods Framework, a WordPress plugin more than 10 years old, which served as the inspiration behind the Fields API. Pods was previously sponsored by Automattic. In response to Scott's announcement, Matt commented:
Would you like your accounts to be deactivated?
On October 17th, Matt retaliated by disabling Scott's community accounts.
@scottkclark Today my WordPress.org account was disabled unexpectedly. I did not request that and I have received no communications with reasoning ahead of time or at the time of that being disabled (like most people who were deactivated on Slack or .org disabled).
@scottkclark This puts the @podsframework project at risk on .org since we've used the security best-practice of having release confirmations enabled on the Pods plugins on .org since they added that feature. To confirm a release, you must log into WordPress.org.
@scottkclark So this was an attack on not just me but also on the Pods project as it means we can't do releases. I have suspected this could happen since the WPE team was locked out of .org so I've already gotten consent from a long time Pods contributor for them to take over the .org listing
@scottkclark Now that I have been locked out of .org officially, I made a formal request to transfer ownership of the Pods plugins into their control so that we can continue our normal release processes. Nothing is safe here, unsure if his account will be locked or if Pods will be closed.
@scottkclark And now my WordPress.org Slack account has been deactivated, assuming that was part of the syncing of .org disabled accounts to deactivating WP Slack accounts. But still, that truly made the cut deeper and more official in my eyes.
News articles posted on WordPress.org are syndicated to the admin panel of every WordPress install. Matt, referring to himself in the third-person, posts "WP Engine Promotions" to WordPress.org (archive).
Given the egregious legal attacks by WP Engine against WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, a number of their customers have been looking for alternative hosting, and in return a number of hosts have created specials and promotions for WP Engine customers looking to migrate to a host that has great relations with WordPress.org. Here they are, in alphabetical order.
The hosts listed are BlueHost (owned by Newfold, which resells Automattic's hosted WordPress service), Pressable (owned by Automattic), WordPress.com (owned by Automattic) and WordPress VIP (owned by Automattic).
WordPress.com will give you a free year of any plan they offer, and donate 5% of your purchase price to the WordPress Foundation.
The WordPress Foundation has zero involvement in the development of WordPress and zero involvement in the hosting of WordPress.org; WordPress.com's donation to the WordPress Foundation is Matt shuffling money from one of his pockets to another of his pockets. Once again, Matt demonstrates the nature of Automattic's investment in WordPress is far from altruistic.
Joost de Valk Tweets:
People in the WordPress world realize that: hosts are slowly "cutting loose" from w .org.
Matt responds from @WordPress, referencing his own tweet, which contains only references to Automattic-powered services, to evidence the claim that "hosts" are consolidating behind WordPress.org.
Really? Looks like hosts are consolidating behind .org:
Given the horrible legal attacks by @wpengine against us, a number of hosts including @bluehost, @Pressable, @wordpressdotcom, and @WordPressVIP are offering great promotions for customers who want a host who isn't suing @WordPress.
Did Matt forget that we know Matt is @WordPress and @Pressable and @wordpressdotcom and @WordPressVIP and that @bluehost is powered by Matt's WordPress cloud service?
New alignment offer: I guess some people were sad they missed the last window. Some have been leaking to the press and ex-employees. That's water under the bridge. Maybe the last offer needed to be higher. People have said they want a new window, so this is my attempt.
Here's a new one: You have until 00:00 UTC Oct 17 (~4 hours) to DM me the words "I resign and would like to take the 9-month buy-out offer." You don't have to say any reason, or anything else. I will reply "Thank you." Automattic will accept your resignation, you can keep you office stuff and work laptop; you will lose access to Automattic and W.org (no slack, user accounts, etc). HR will be in touch to wrap up details in the coming days, including your 9 months of compensation, they have a lot on their plates right now. You have my word this deal will be honored. We will try to keep this quiet, so it won't be used against us, but I still wanted to give Automatticians another window.
Automattic is a remote, global company. Offering employees across every timezone just 4 hours to decide in the middle of the night is ridiculous. The deadline is presumably short in order to minimize the number of people who see it in time to accept it.
Matt later offered further information regarding the offer:
This is designed specifically for whoever the leaker is.
Matt threatens a "big legal case" against "the leaker":
We have technical means to identify the leaker as well, that I obviously can't disclose. So this is their opportunity to exit gracefully, or be fired tomorrow with no severance and probably a big legal case for violating confidentiality agreement.
I wouldn't recommend this deal if you're not the leaker, but it is open to everyone.
I apologize for the drama. I just got off a call with the person in question. They took the offer. We're honoring it.
Regarding granting more time to decide for people in different timezones:
Your best option for your family is decades of employment with Automattic with awesome raises as we streamline our products and businesses.
Regarding removal of access to WordPress.org:
it would no longer be possible, so it is true that this has broader restrictions than the last offer. No org access means no WordCamps, etc. Gone from WordPress community.
Susan Rubenstein, attorney representing the nurses in "Those Other Lawsuits", addresses Matt's response.
While I would like to respond in detail to the false and self-serving statements made by Mr. Mullenweg, I believe that it is the better practice to not comment on a case that is in active litigation. Because his comments were made online, I do feel compelled to state that I stand by all the allegations set forth in the Complaints filed on behalf of each of these women. I do not file spurious complaints, nor do I "recruit" clients. The complaints were not sent to the press, nor are any of the allegations contained therein exaggerated. Last, Mr. Mullenweg's claim that he was told by me that unless he paid a specific sum of money, the Complaints would be filed, is also false.
Response provided by email at 16 Oct 2024 03:15:03 +0000 from [email protected].
Matt publishes "Those Other Lawsuits" (see: Lawsuit filed against Matt by his Mother’s private nurse).
In 2022, a lawyer recruited two people who took care of my Mom—an assistant and one of her dozen nurses—to resign and demand a million dollars each, or they would publish horrible things about her in a lawsuit. I refused. The lawsuits were filed. Luckily, the accusations are so sick, twisted, and outrageous that they refute themselves. There’s some weird sex stuff, and also claims that my Mom is racist. I am sad for whatever mind could even imagine such things.
Matt begins by suggesting an origin story that does not stand up, a lawyer does not recruit employees to sue their employer. The lawyer involved in these lawsuits, Susan Rubenstein, is a reputable employment lawyer responsible for jury-supported cases, such as "Marriott must pay $20 million for avoiding disabled concierge’s accommodation pleas".
Matt goes on to claim that the accusations refute themselves. Yet, rather than refute, one of Matt's former employees corroborates the allegations. From "DECLARATION OF JANE WEBER IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS” MOTION TO COMPEL ARBITRATION IN LIEU OF FILING ANSWERS":
I worked for Defendants Matthew Mullenweg and Audrey HC. LLC as the Director of Estate Operations.
[...]
Defendant Mullenweg was considered the “boss” for all intents and purposes, however there were many day-to-day matters that never reached his desk. For instance, he rarely assisted in onboarding; the statements in his declaration are highly exaggerated. He did have the final say regarding policies for his company, many of which were unlawful, including his decision to completely ignore California wage and hour laws, and his decision to allow the hostile work environment to continue when he could have taken steps to prevent the harassment from occurring. Several employees complained about the hostile work environment; I advised him on more than one occasion that he was legally bound to correct it, however he ignored my advice.
[...]
During the course of my employment with Defendants Mullenweg and Audrey HC, LLC, both Asmahan Attayeb and Jenniffer Westmoreland reported to me. I am aware from each woman, that an abusive and offensive and discriminatory hostile work environment occurred on a routine basis which disrupted the workplace for many of the employees who oftentimes would quit. I know that each of these women, Ms. Attayeb and Ms. Westmoreland, tried to make the best of the circumstances until they could not take it anymore. I know that at or near the time I left the company in early March, the harassment was continuing and in fact, escalated once these women and others complained about the conduct to Defendant Mullenweg.
David, perhaps it would be good to explore with a therapist or coach why you keep having these great ideas but cannot scale them beyond a handful of niche customers. I will give full credit and respect. 37signals inspired tons of what Automattic does! We’re now half a billion in revenue. Why are you still so small? ~Response to DHH on ma.tt (archive).
Matt once again repeats the lie that this is about the trademark (See: Lies about what this is all about, again).
We have no problem with their use of GPL code, our beef is with their trademark abuse.
And tries to leverage his philanthropy:
David, perhaps instead of spending $2M on a race car, you should do some philanthropy.
Matt, perhaps instead of spending $100k on acquiring a domain to spite someone, you should pay your Mother's nurses for having to listen to your Mother talk about your sex life.
Matt modified "Response to DHH" to remove the quoted paragraph, luckily it is archived.
Matt deletes "Response to DHH". Perhaps the tide is turning. Has Matt come to his senses? Has he finally taken some Tylenol?
The error page makes a good point.
This is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?
Matt replaces the post with a weak apology to DHH.
I’ve taken this post down. I’ve been attacked so much the past few days; the most vicious, personal, hateful words poisoned my brain, and the original version of this post was mean. I am so sorry. I shouldn’t let this stuff get to me, but it clearly did, and I took it out on DHH, who, while I disagree with him on several points, isn’t the actual villain in this story: it’s WP Engine and Silver Lake.
1 apology down, 99 to go.
@wp_acf If WP Engine dropped its lawsuits, apologized, and got in good standing with its trademark use, you are welcome to have access to the plugin directory listing. ~@WordPress
As speculated, under the guise of "security", Matt forks WP Engine's Advanced Custom Fields plugin to "Secure Custom Fields" and hijacks the WordPress.org plugin page for Advanced Custom Fields to promote the fork.
On behalf of the WordPress security team, I am announcing that we are invoking point 18 of the plugin directory guidelines and are forking Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) into a new plugin, Secure Custom Fields. SCF has been updated to remove commercial upsells and fix a security problem. ~Secure Custom Fields on WordPress.org
Yesterday "Advanced Custom Fields by WP Engine". Today "Secure Custom Fields by WordPress.org".
We have been made aware that the Advanced Custom Fields plugin on the WordPress directory has been taken over by WordPress dot org. A plugin under active development has never been unilaterally and forcibly taken away from its creator without consent in the 21 year history of WordPress. ~@wp_acf
Secure Custom Fields on WordPress.org was modified shortly after publication to recharacterize Jason Bahl's move to Automattic:
There is separate, but not directly related news that Jason Bahl has left WP Engine to work for Automattic and will be making WPGraphQL a canonical community plugin. We expect others will
defectfollow as well.
Laura Elizabeth, founder of WordPress Plugin Client Portal, Tweets that she is unable to log in to WordPress.org due to her affiliation with WP Engine.
Guess I can’t contribute to WordPress 🤷♀️ ~@lauraelizdunn
Matt responds:
Sorry, who are you? ~@WordPress
Following on from poaching WPGraphQL from WP Engine earlier in the week, Matt makes moves to take the open-source GPL-licensed version of Advanced Custom Fields and bring it in to WordPress Core.
I have it from multiple trusted sources that the Matt surprise today will cross lines and break open source ethics. His villain era is truly here. ~@kellie
Perhaps in a moment of clarity (or more likely in an effort to influence the results), Matt uses @WordPress to retweet a poll showing community sentiment is firmly on the side of WP Engine.
After the poll closes with voting conclusively showing community sentiment is against Matt, the retweet from @WordPress is removed.
Matt participates in a 30 minute podcast episode on World of DaaS with Auren Hoffman: Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg: WordPress vs WP Engine. At 20 minutes in, Matt's nose begins bleeding and Matt, without acknowledging the nose bleed, spends the rest of the interview with blood on his face.
Matt later adds a comment to the video:
Around 20 minutes in, my nose started bleeding, which sometimes happens when I travel too much. Prior to this interview, I was on 30+ hour flights returning from Durban, where I was on safari, to Houston. I'm sorry for not noticing it happening; it's very embarrassing.
A former employee says:
Has anyone tried turning @photomatt off and restarting him? ~@kellie
Matt responds:
By “turning off” do you mean my life should end? ~@photomatt
The next day:
Thank you for clarifying. 🙏 I get a lot of actual death threats, so am pretty sensitive to it. ~@photomatt
On Hacker News, Neil Peretz writes:
Despite our sometimes fervent wishes, lawyers don't control clients. We are not puppeteers.
Matt bans long-term WordPress contributors for questioning his decision making in the WordPress Slack.
For anybody who wants to understand why I've been banned from the #WordPress Slack. ~@JavierCasares
I was one of those banned this morning, along with Javier, from the Making WordPress Slack channel. I was also subsequently banned from wordpress.org. All seemingly for criticizing the checkbox decision. I'm a plugin developer with over 10 years of WP experience. One of my plugins is fairly well used in the community. I only say this to demonstrate the severity of what's happening. ~/u/andrewfromatx
During the same conversation, Matt justifies the introduction of the WP Engine affiliation ban:
I want you all to be informed and involved. Not to stay on the sidelines.
On Hacker News Matt writes:
Our lawyers have never said that WordPress.org is a non-profit or owned by the Foundation.
5 days prior in WordPress Trademarks: A Legal Perspective, Neil Peretz the "associate general counsel at Automattic" said:
The Foundation also licensed the name WordPress to the non-profit WordPress.org, which runs a website that facilitates access to WordPress-related software.
Later on October 8th, 5 days after the post was published, Matt updates the post to remove "non-profit" and Neil Peretz describes "non-profit" as a typo:
I believe there was a typo in the post. If you read this thread you'll see a note below from Matt yesterday that the post was corrected. ~neilperetz on Hacker News
To log in to WordPress.org a user must certify that they have no association with WP Engine.
I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise.
Responding to Automattic is doing open source dirty, Matt once again contradicts himself.
Thank you for writing about this! I'm sorry if our messaging made you think this about the GPL — I have no issue with their use of GPL code. It's specifically about their misuse of the "WordPress" and "WooCommerce" trademarks.
See: 2024-09-28 Lies about motivation for dispute with WP Engine.
Matt hires Jason Bahl, author of WP Engine-sponsored WPGraphQL, conditional upon WPGraphQL transitioning to the control of Matt.
With that said, I’m excited to announce that after 3.5 wonderful years at WP Engine, I’ve accepted an offer with Automattic to continue my work on WPGraphQL as it transitions into becoming a canonical community plugin on WordPress.org.
Matt's weaponisation of corporate sponsored Open Source projects harms the Open Source ecosystem, flying in the face of his claimed focus on the greater good.
Everyone thinks WPE owns GraphQL but they don’t. ~@photomatt on X
Obviously "everyone" does not think that WPE own GraphQL because GraphQL has nothing to do with WordPress.
In a since deleted tweet Automattic (Matt) violates responsible disclosure by announcing a vulnerability in WPEngine's ACF plugin.
Automattic's security team has responsibly disclosed a vulnerability in @wp_acf to @wpengine. As is standard, they have 30 days to issue a fix before public disclosure. We have reserved this CVE for the issue: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-9529
Due to long-term confusion about the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, WordPress.org has an article titled "What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?". On October 5th, a change was made to remove mention of the ambiguity.
Prior to October 5th (archive):
Why doesn’t Automattic rename WordPress.com to something more distinct? You’ll have to ask them. Likely, the downsides of a rebranding campaign would outweigh the benefits. The ambiguity certainly hasn’t been all bad. It makes it fairly clear to users that they can migrate their WordPress.com blog to a self-hosted WordPress install.
Since October 5th:
Why doesn’t Automattic rename WordPress.com to something more distinct? WordPress.com offers multi-site for free and on very inexpensive plans, has never had any downtime or lost user data since 2005, and has onboarded and introduced hundreds of millions of people to WordPress. Their higher-tier plans offer some of the fastest and most secure WordPress Managed Hosting available anywhere, with full plugin and theme support. That advanced managed platform is now licensed to other hosts through wp.cloud and is raising the bar for the industry. The flavor of WordPress offered by WordPress.com is a huge asset to the brand and adoption of WordPress overall.
@photomatt joins the chat and refuses to leave after being asked politely. A safe space for former automatticians. ~@kellie on X
Misrepresents history in "Automattic—WP Engine Term Sheet" blog post
May 30: Automattic shares first term sheet with WP Engine via email.
The term sheet Automattic sent to WP Engine in May 2024 relates to a WooCommerce partnership, not a WordPress trademark license. From WPENGINE, INC., vs. AUTOMATTIC INC.; and MATTHEW CHARLES MULLENWEG:
Defendants have publicly stated that Automattic had been in discussions with WPE concerning their purported claim that WPE was infringing their trademarks for approximately 18 months leading up to their extortive demands in mid-September 2024. That is false. Rather, earlier in 2024, Automattic had proposed that WPE participate in a WooCommerce “Hosting Partner Program,” which would have involved WPE collaborating to advance WooCommerce as the leading e-commerce engine for the WordPress ecosystem; Automattic’s proposal referenced the inclusion of a trademark license (which WPE did not need under governing trademark law), but made no accusations that WPE was violating any trademarks. Nor did Defendants ask WPE to make any changes to its references to WordPress or WooCommerce on its website. In any event, Automattic unilaterally shut down those discussions in August 2024 without an agreement, informing WPE that Automattic was “reassessing how we will deal with WP Engine.” Thereafter, WPE received no further communications from Defendants concerning trademarks until the above-referenced extortion demand in mid-September, 2024.
Right now emails from Blind are forwarding to me. ~@kellie on X
Blind is totally open for Automatticians to join again, has been for months. ~@photomatt on X
TL;DR: Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic, co-founder of WordPress, and single point of failure for WordPress.org is trying to bully me with legal threats over my commentary regarding his recent behavior.
"Nice Guy" Matt Mullenweg, CEO of WordPress.com Cries Foul and Threatens Me With Legal Action
WordPress/wordpress.org@0327a510ab252f465db6beef0534319373ee13bc
Removes WordPress.com from the Hosting page then adds another Automattic owned WordPress host in its place, Pressable, which is running a switch away from WP Engine campaign.
Matt appoints Neal Katyal and makes the following claim:
Neal has been adverse to Quinn Emanuel a number of times, and won every case.
we looked back ten years and found seven total cases. Mr. Katyal has lost three times, won twice.
The Foundation is a 501c3, so if it ran http://WordPress.org we'd have to remove all commercial plugins and anything that could be seen as promoting a for-profit. Would you like that? ~@photomatt on X
The WordPress Foundation has many for-profit subsidiaries.
Admits to owning WordPress.org himself and implies he finances it.
Please propose an alternative! They need to be independently wealthy to subsidize W.org, which serves 30k requests a second at peak, and ideally command a for-profit entity that can contribute thousands of hours a week to WordPress. ~@photomatt on X
Later admits Automattic finances WordPress.org.
Automattic employs ~100 people that work full-time on WordPress.org. I can appoint them into positions on WordPress.org, if I think that's appropriate. ~photomatt on Hacker News
Appears on Theo - t3․gg's YouTube channel for The WordPress Interview
In a text message to CEO of WP Engine, Heather Brunner, Matt threatens to reveal (false) information about Heather to the press.
Heather, after our extensive discussions about you joining Automattic, the offer you negotiated with me is still on the table.
- You can join Automattic and match all of your compensation economics, as we discussed in January.
- I will extend that matching to anyone from WPE who wants to follow you. (You said you wanted to do right by your team; this addresses it.)
Let me know by midnight PT if you decline or accept this offer.
If you decline, on Monday morning, I tell Greg Mondres [CEO of Silver Lake]:
- Lee's refusal to negotiate terms to resolve our conflict.
- Your interviewing with Automattic over the past year.
- I will possibly tell the press all of the above.
Via point 90 (page 32) of WPENGINE, INC., vs. AUTOMATTIC INC.; and MATTHEW CHARLES MULLENWEG.
The problem isn't their use of WP, it's their use of the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks. ~photomatt on Hacker News
Subsequently admits the trademark is not the problem and is being used as an angle to attack WP Engine.
“The analogy I made is they got Al Capone for taxes,” Mullenweg says. “So, if a company was making half a billion dollars from WordPress and contributing back about $100,000 a year, yes, I would be trying to get them to contribute more.” WP Engine competes directly with the hosting services offered by Automattic and WordPress.com, and Mullenweg argues one of the reasons for its success is the use of “WordPress” across its site. “That’s why we’re using that legal avenue to really, yeah, pressure them. That’s true: we are pressuring them.” ~The Verge "Matt Mullenweg: ‘WordPress.org just belongs to me’"
Publishes "WP Engine is banned from WordPress.org"
What I will tell you is that, pending their legal claims and litigation against WordPress.org, WP Engine no longer has free access to WordPress.org’s resources.
WP Engine did not make any legal claims against WordPress.org, they issued a cease and desist to Automattic (Automattic’s Actionable Misconduct Directed to WP Engine).
Publishes "Charitable Contributions" on ma.tt
I have kept my personal philanthropy private until now.
Matt has published information about his personal philanthropy many times.
Matt modifies the WordPress trademark policy to add:
The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don’t use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is “WordPress Engine” and officially associated with WordPress, which it’s not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress.
If you would like to use the WordPress trademark commercially, please contact Automattic, they have the exclusive license. Their only sub-licensee is Newfold.
Publishes "WP Engine is not WordPress"
It has to be said and repeated: WP Engine is not WordPress. My own mother was confused and thought WP Engine was an official thing.
WordPress.org itself acknowledges the same confusion exists with WordPress.com.
People are often confused about the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org because they sure sound similar. This workshop highlights the key differences between .Org and .Com. Watch this short video to answer any questions you have. ~What is the difference between WordPress .Com and .Org?
Matt goes on to say:
WordPress is a content management system, and the content is sacred. Every change you make to every page, every post, is tracked in a revision system, just like the Wikipedia. ... WP Engine turns this off. They disable revisions because it costs them more money to store the history of the changes in the database, and they don’t want to spend that to protect your content.
WP Engine responds in Automattic’s Actionable Misconduct Directed to WP Engine.
What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress, it’s something that they’ve chopped up, hacked, butchered to look like WordPress, but actually they’re giving you a cheap knock-off and charging you more for it.
The post falsely states, “What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress, it’s something that they’ve chopped up, hacked, butchered to look like WordPress, but actually they’re giving you a cheap knock-off and charging you more for it.” In truth, WP Engine’s WordPress installations are identical to the WordPress.org ZIP file which defines WordPress. ~Automattic’s Actionable Misconduct Directed to WP Engine
Automattic themselves disable a wide variety of features in their paid products, like WordPress.com, Pressable and JetPack.
Posts "WordCamp US & Ecosystem Thinking"
Compare the Five For the Future pages from Automattic and WP Engine, two companies that are roughly the same size with revenue in the ballpark of half a billion.
Matt implies Five For the Future is the only way to contribute to the WordPress ecosystem. Five For the Future counts direct contributions to the Matt-owned WordPress project, not the wider ecosystem. WP Engine contribute Faust.js, sponsor WPGraphQL and develop Local and Advanced Custom Fields.
Via TechCrunch, Tumblr CEO publicly spars with trans user over account ban, revealing private account names in the process:
Over the last few days, the situation escalated to the point that Mullenweg has engaged with the user in question on other platforms and shared private details about her account in public.
Matt responded to accusations of Transphobia in My Beliefs and Principles, once again wheeling out his "private" philanthropy as a shield for criticism.
I've personally donated to LGBT+ organizations as far back as 2016, and more recently have donated mid five figures to Human Rights organizations.
Days after being sued for subjecting his Mother's nurses to tales of Matt's thirst for Asian women, Matt makes similar accusations to those he has since made against WP Engine. Contemporaneously covered by WP Tavern in Matt Mullenweg Identifies GoDaddy as a “Parasitic Company” and an “Existential Threat to WordPress’ Future”.
Matt subsequently deleted the tweets, and then blamed the tweets on a fever.
Okay no more tweeting while I have a fever, I'm going to have some @brodoNYC and rest. Sorry for the commotion. ~@photomatt
Maybe WP Engine just need to send Matt some Tylenol, instead of 8% of their revenue.
A private nurse alleges Matt violated labor law, contributed to a hostile work environment and wrongfully terminated her.
•30. Numerous complaints were made directly to Defendant MATTHEW MULLENWEG regarding the severity of his mother's racism, and the discomfort it was causing Plaintiff, however he did nothing to prevent it from occurring. In fact, to the contrary, Defendant MATTHEW MULLENWEG would share the complaints made by Plaintiff with his mother who would then retaliate against Plaintiff and threaten her with termination ifshe ever complained about her racism and religious rants to her son again.
•33. In addition to the racist rants and harassment about wearing a head scarfthat Plaintiff was subjected to, Defendant KATHLEEN MULLENWEG also created a hostile, and sexually charged environment by repeatedly discussing Defendant MATTHEW MULLENWEG's sex life in graphic detail. KATHLEEN MULLENWEG would discuss Defendant MATTHEW MULLENWEG's attraction to Asian women, and how Asian women were all "whores" and "sluts" and "prostitutes." She also discussed that Defendant MATTHEW MULLENWEG would engage in threesomes with his girlfriends, that Defendant MULLENWEG was easily seduced by the Asian women, that the Asian women would poke holes in condoms in an attempt to set him up for marriage. Defendant KATHLEEN MULLENWEG would discuss how her son would sleep with multiple women at the same time, and other graphic details about Defendant Matthew MULLENWEG's sex life, Defendant KATHLEEN MULLENWEG engaged in a pattern of continuous, pervasive, and severe daily harassment intentionally occurring in the immediate presence of Plaintiff, in a direct and intentional attempt to offend, embarrass, and provoke Plaintiff, who repeatedly requested that this behavior stop.
Case Number: CGC22600093 (complaint).
A second lawsuit (Case Number: CGC22600095 (complaint)) makes similar allegations.
•27. Defendant MULLENWEG held himself out to be the boss, owner, HR Director, policy maker, and individual in control of every aspect of Plaintiffs employment. Plaintiff felt she had no one to protect her from the abuse, the excessive demand to work months without a day off, and she lacked the resources to escape the situation she found herself in.
•33. As time passed, the conditions grew worse for Plaintiff while living and working in 24 California for the MULLENWEG's. Defendant MULLENWEG routinely fired any responsible 25 supervisor who might have offered protection for Plaintiff, and MULLENWEG's mother became 26 increasingly more abusive with no one available to keep her behavior in check.
•34. In addition to the racism, Kathleen Mullenweg engaged in a pattern of continuous, pervasive, and severe daily sexual banter which occurred directly in Plaintiff's presence in her immediate work environment. In addition to the racism, the workplace was permeated with sexually-charged harassment which embarrassed, humiliated, and offended Plaintiff. For example, Kathleen Mullenweg would discuss in graphic detail the sex between defendant MULLENWEG and his Asian girlfriends even though Plaintiff begged her not to discuss such private matters. Kathleen Mullenweg at one point asked Plaintiffto spy on her son having sex with his girlfriends. She also asked Plaintiff to check the trash cans to search for condoms. Plaintiff made numerous complaints directly to Defendant MATTHEW MVLLENWEG, AUDREY and to MULLENWEG's mother regarding the severity of Kathleen Mullenweg's racism and sexually charged non-stop rants, and the discomfort it was causing her, however Defendants did absolutely nothing to prevent it from occurring. In fact, to the contrary, Defendant MULLENWEG would share Plaintiffs complaints with his mother who would then retaliate against Plaintiff and threaten her with termination if she ever complained about her harassment to her son again.
Matt has referenced his Mother multiple times, including her advice.
Maybe this is another typo. Matt may have meant "Kill 'em with unsafe working conditions".
Following a many-years long dispute with author of Thesis WordPress Theme System Chris Pearson, Matt acquires the domain thesis.com for $100,000 in retaliation.
Principles? Matt spent $100,000 to buy thesis.com—a domain in which he had no legitimate business interest—forwarded the domain to his property, and violated my trademark. ~The Truth About Thesis.com
In Matt Mullenweg Tried to Get Me Fired Ben Cook writes:
And while I certainly didn’t expect my call for his resignation to earn me an invitation to the Mullenweg Christmas dinner, I was honestly shocked at the cowardly reaction it apparently elicited.
[...]
But, when Matt Mullenweg decided he’d had enough of my criticism, he didn’t come to me personally. Instead, as any true freedom loving person would do, he decided to go over my head and raise the issue with my employer. Matt, by his own admission, claimed that my writings here and on Twitter “borders on hate speech and reflects badly on any organization you’re associated with, regardless of any disclaimers you may have.”
14 years ago, wordpress™ wank publishes back into the shade:
How do we know that the ‘foundation’ isn’t going to use trademark violation as a weapon in the GPL jihad, using it as an excuse to shut down anyone promoting non-GPL code or documentation? We had a reasonable expectation that Automattic wouldn’t do that because they’re an actual legitimate business, with a board of directors and all that jazz, and the money men might have a shot at keeping Matt’s weirder impulses in check, but now nobody else gets a say in how the trademark’s used or how abuses (real or imagined) are handled. And somehow this gets spun as a great day for open source. Awesome.
Lawsuits and other legal filings.
| Date | From | To | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-09-23 | Automattic | WP Engine | Re: Unauthorized Use of WordPress Foundation and WooCommerce, Inc. Intellectual Property (+ exhibits) |
| 2024-09-23 | WP Engine | Automattic | Re: Automattic’s Actionable Misconduct Directed to WP Engine |
| Site | Profile |
|---|---|
| X (Twitter) | @photomatt |
| /u/photomatt (archive) | |
| Hacker News | photomatt (archive) |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 2024-10-11 | Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg: WordPress vs WP Engine on World of DaaS with Auren Hoffman |
| 2024-09-29 | The WordPress Interview with Theo - t3․gg |
| 2024-09-27 | Matt Talks About WordPress Situation with ThePrimeTime |
| Date | Name |
|---|---|
| 2024-10-02 | WPENGINE, INC., vs. AUTOMATTIC INC.; and MATTHEW CHARLES MULLENWEG |
| 2024-09-23 | Automattic’s Actionable Misconduct Directed to WP Engine |
- Automattic と WP Engine の闘争
- The Mullenweg/WPE Thing by @adrienne
- Mullenweg.wtf
- The Mattrix Derailed / mattrixderailed.com
- Matt Engine / mattengine.com
- WordPress vs. WP Engine Dispute Timeline / wpvswpe.report
- AntiMATTic / antimattic.net
- WP Engine's timeline of events / wpengine.com
Please add any information via GitHub: github.com/bullenweg/bullenweg.github.io.
Email [email protected] to submit information anonymously.
Bullenweg.com is not associated with Automattic, WP Engine, Silver Lake or Matthew Charles Mullenweg.
It actually is an excellent website ~Matt Mullenweg, October 12th 2024