Engineer with over 14 years of experience developing WordPress announces departure, stating that 'a cult has formed around Automattic'
So Long WordPress - Chris Wiegman
https://chriswiegman.com/2024/10/so-long-wordpress/
Weigman is the vice president of engineering at security technology company SuperFile. He has been involved in WordPress core coding and plugin development for over 14 years, and has been a moderator on the official WordPress job site for over 11 years. He also previously worked as a principal software engineer at WP Engine.
However, Wiegmann says he has been gradually distancing himself from WordPress-related projects since around 2017. The reason for this is that 'many people have dedicated their lives to contributing to WordPress, and their important work has been wasted simply because the direction was different from what Mr. Mullenweg wanted.'
In particular, in key areas like privacy, accessibility, and governance, they have witnessed the contributions of well-intentioned people who sought to protect users and strengthen the community not only being ignored, but also being oppressed and ostracized for making basic recommendations.
Weigmann also offered some harsh criticism of WordPress companies, saying that many of them promised 'better' benefits while actually working low wages for their employees. From well-known product companies to well-known agencies, he pointed out that they justified low wages and poor benefits by using threats like 'you're not good enough to leave.'
In particular, Automattic, which was incorporated to monetize WordPress, has developed into a cult-like organization. Wiegmann himself considered working for Automattic in 2014, but had little trust in the company because a friend who had been employed there before him had been treated badly. After that, he participated in Automattic's paid trial, but in the end he chose to work at a company he found before the trial began.
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Weigman also said that he joined WP Engine in 2018 because 'WP Engine was the only company that was honest about its true nature.' Unlike other companies, WP Engine did not bind its employees with the word 'family' or claim to be 'superior to non-WordPress organizations.' Instead, it aimed to be the largest hosting company and offered the best salaries and most interesting jobs in the WordPress industry.
Wiegmann pointed out the hypocrisy of Mullenweg's actions, saying, 'These actions should not be a surprise to anyone who has followed Automattic for over a decade, but this incident with WP Engine was the final straw.' Wiegmann acknowledged that he should have left WordPress when his friends were being oppressed, and that he was naive to think he could make a difference.
by Claudio Schwarz
Wiegmann also acknowledged that WP Engine 'is not completely innocent in the world of WordPress and open source,' but said that the attacks by Mullenweg and Automattic against WP Engine are excessive. He said that this situation shows the world what WordPress is really about: a predatory organization that abuses other companies and organizations to get free work.
Wiegmann has declared that he will archive the last WordPress-related project he was involved in, the development environment 'Kana,' and his own site theme until proper governance is established at WordPress.org. In addition, he will stop contributing to Meetups and other WordPress events, and will end his moderation duties on the official job site. However, he said he may reconsider this decision if 'excessive ambition to aim for a huge share of the entire Internet is curbed' and 'proper governance is established in line with the spirit of virtue that the project claims.'
Finally, Wiegmann expressed his gratitude to the many good people who remain in WordPress for their years of conversation and support. Although he has a critical view of WordPress as a whole, he acknowledged that many people have made great contributions to WordPress on an individual and small community level, and stated that he would like to continue to talk to and support these people no matter where his activities move to in the future.
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