MySiteGuy
Well-known member
There's plenty of public data out there about their size, so belief in Matt isn't required.
Wordpress Drama
- Thread starter Forsaken
- Start date
Mr Lucky
Well-known member
Ah, I didn't realise that.
Suzanne O
Well-known member
Haha
Digital Doctor
Well-known member
more reason they need to financially support Wordpress.
WP Engine = Cheapskates. They need calling out.
Forsaken
Well-known member
Automattic has more investors, including BlackRock which is worth more than Silver Lake: https://app.dealroom.co/companies/automattic
Also, as mentioned previously in the thread, contributions are not mandatory to open-source, financially or man hours. Wordpress has a Five for the Future, where entities contribute 5% of their resources (financial or man hours) to Wordpress or Wordpress initiatives, and WPEngine already does so, more than most other entities. This also includes companies like Namecheap, who are not part of Five for the Future, have used the Wordpress trademark similarly and have never publicly contributed to Wordpress.
Whether or not WPEngine is private equity backed or not does not matter; most people could give two ****s about them, and even if people use them, it is mostly ease of use for their clients. People are angry at Matt for his attitude and the actions he has taken, many of which have shown issues with the relationship between Automattic, Wordpress Foundation and Wordpress.org, and specifically with how much control he has and how easily he can abuse that control.
Companies should obviously contribute to projects they profit from, but that also applies to Automattic who only contributes 0.3% of their revenue ($225k) to PHP, and probably less to other projects as well.
This drama isn't about the contributions, but literally about the actions Matt has insisted on continuing to have because he does not get what he wants.
WPEngine isn't even a victim here, but they're certainly not the bad guy either.
Forsaken
Well-known member
How (some) current Automattic employees feel about the current drama: https://www.404media.co/automattic-buyout-offer-wordpress-matt-mullenweg/ (Paywall bypass link: https://archive.is/RZ8T1)
Scott Clark (Pods & Fields API) has been blocked on WP.org and also the official Slack:
A number of other contributors or plugin authors have seen retaliation from Matt for either criticizing, or choosing not to contribute to projects they were involved in. People get removed for asking for clarifications on the Slack, or questioning the choices or actions he has made recently.
Kellie Peterson plea to Automattic employees about Matt:
Scott Clark (Pods & Fields API) has been blocked on WP.org and also the official Slack:
A number of other contributors or plugin authors have seen retaliation from Matt for either criticizing, or choosing not to contribute to projects they were involved in. People get removed for asking for clarifications on the Slack, or questioning the choices or actions he has made recently.
Kellie Peterson plea to Automattic employees about Matt:
RobinHood
Well-known member
The interception of the teamblind.com emails is wild!
Forsaken
Well-known member
That's pretty standard for corporations (not Blind specifically, but monitoring emails).
What's crazy to me is the sheer pettiness of only giving 4 hours, and the fact that deciding to leave will include a lifetime ban from Wordpress essentially.
There's some more updates today (crazy that there are updates almost every 12 hours it seems), but don't have time to find links right now.
Forsaken
Well-known member
So, this estimate was incorrect, as the number I used was the amount they had sponsored PHP for, and not sharing their revenue.
There's a post on Reddit that has done a deeper dive into Automattic's contributions, and it is much lower:
For sponsorships, they sponsor PHP ($225k, as a one-time sponsorship) and MariaDB (~$28000 one-time sponsorship).
WPEngine has filed for an immediate injunction: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.437474/gov.uscourts.cand.437474.17.0.pdf
This is from a Reddit post where a copyright/open-source lawyer weighed in to explain how the injunction would work:
There is also a quote from WPEngine regarding them hearing about Matt Mullenweg possibly pushing agency partners to stop using WPEngine products (including their plugins).
An interesting post, but I do not agree with everything, but hopefully some of the points come true:
Fwiw kier had said years ago that people were not allowed to use xenforo in domains. Imo you guys should keep that rule in place, it absolutely can cause confusion and weight organic results. It's a reasonable limitation and helps protect brand. But if that is a decision that is final, it's interesting at least.
Suzanne O
Well-known member
This!
Mr Lucky
Well-known member
I somehow doubt he would say that. There is no direct correlation between trademarks and trademark words in a domain name. I could legally start a company making doughnuts and use the trademark XenForo to sell my doughnuts under. I would not be able to use the domain XenForo.com because it's already taken. But I could use xenforodoughnuts.com or XenForo.me.uk.
(NB: It would probably be a different issue regarding the actual artwork of the logo )
However I could not use xenForo.co.uk. Again nothing to do with trademarks but purely because that domain has been registered.
What Chris said here makes total sense.
XenForo ltd is not in a position to either "allow" or "disallow" the word in a domain. What I mean by that is they cannot stop you starting a company called xenforosoftware and from registering XenForosoftware.com as the domain is available. However if your company XenForosoftware is developing and selling software then I'm sure they would successfully sue your pants off.
So rather than thinking of xenForo "allowing" or "disallowing" it's better to think that of it as them not suing you for selling XenForo branded doughnuts (@Chris D may be able to confirm that or not), but also that they disallow you from selling xenForo branded software in that your trademark within the same business class is confusing.
I think there may be a great area with a domain such as xenForosupport.com. In that case I think the word "allow" may mean that they are happy not to sue you as long as your site does not make it seem that it is an official xenForo site. Obviously you may want to use the actual or adapted logo and in that case I would definitely ask for permission and get it in writing.
I think there are often issues with game sites (forums) that obviously want to use the game's logo and character illustrations. Often the game company allows it if they deem it is helping but, but they could at any time sue or(more likely) issue a cease and desist and bang goes your Game forum.
Suzanne O
Well-known member
I think i remember reading this too.
MySiteGuy
Well-known member
The type of words matter too.
Xenforo is clearly a uniquely created word, like Coca Cola. If a car company called Xenforo is started, Xenforo LTD would likely win a case against them.
If, however, your surname is Heinz, and you started Heinz Transportation Services, you stand a chance of prevailing. Generic words, in different markets, usually hold up. Apple Records and Apple Computer, is a big example.
Xenforo is clearly a uniquely created word, like Coca Cola. If a car company called Xenforo is started, Xenforo LTD would likely win a case against them.
If, however, your surname is Heinz, and you started Heinz Transportation Services, you stand a chance of prevailing. Generic words, in different markets, usually hold up. Apple Records and Apple Computer, is a big example.
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