These two messages show the problemat(t)ic relationship between Matt, Automattic, and WordPress. Is WP Engine taking advantage of Matt’s personal website? Or are they taking advantage of the Open Source community? Which is it?
Also, “We believe it’s important to prioritize the community’s contributions…”. Really? Is that why he’s been banning contributors left or right for speaking out against his bullying? That’s caring for the community?
It’s very common for bullies to accuse their victims of exactly what they are doing. This makes them feel like their actions are a fair reaction instead of an intentional attack. Matt has been acting surprised that WPE filed a lawsuit against him after he spent a whole week attacking them.
Another common tactic is for the aggressor to try to make their problem the problem of others. Matt continues to say that WPE is attacking the WordPress foundation and the opensource community. No, they are not. They are suing Matt for weaponizing the opensource community.
Matt states “Freedom of Speech is not Freedom of Reach”. Hmmm…. like how he blocked all WPE users and employees from accessing the opensource platform? Like how his has repeatedly banned random people for as little as adding emojis to his childish posts? Is that speech, or is it reach?
Hey Matt, have you looked in the mirror recently?
Matt might be kind most of the time. But anyone who’s been in the community long enough knows that he has also frequently been a petty bully, willing to pay $100K to buy a domain and steal traffic from a business or call a journalist’s boss to try and get them fired.
As with most bullies, they usually pick on weaker people who have no chance to retaliate. This time he picked a fight with someone that might hit him back.
