I Stayed

Reasons for Staying vs Taking Severance

• Some think staying reflects genuine belief in the product, open web, and long-term mission.
• Others argue it’s mainly a financial decision: if you can afford to walk with six months’ pay and don’t, you’re there for money first.
• Several point out the author is senior and well-known, likely employable elsewhere, so money-maximizing would actually be to leave with severance plus a new job.
• There’s skepticism that “I stayed” posts are organic; some suspect implicit pressure or employer-branding motives.

Meaningfulness of Work at a Blogging/CMS Company

• One camp sees WordPress-style tools as socially valuable: enabling independent sites, resisting total domination by big platforms.
• Others find it hard to “believe in the work” at a for‑profit blogging company and see most software as net-neutral at best.
• Debate arises over whether any tech job “truly helps people” given capitalism and mixed downstream use (e.g., by bad actors).

CEO Conduct, Layoffs, and “Alignment”

• Some liken the offer to leave with severance to an “alignment layoff”: a way for leadership to purge dissenters.
• Others see it as a reasonable “win–win” option: those who disagree with direction can exit with a cushion.
• Several predict that trust and good-faith assumptions inside and outside the company will be hard to rebuild.

Automattic vs. WP Engine and Open-Source Obligations

• Many criticize using control over the plugin repo and CVE disclosures as leverage in a commercial dispute, especially when it blocks or delays security fixes for millions of sites.
• Others acknowledge WP Engine may be under-contributing financially but argue that doesn’t justify tactics that harm third-party users.
• There is a deep split over “maker–taker”:
  • One side says open-source licenses explicitly allow “takers”; any further obligations must be written into licenses or contracts.
  • The other side insists open source has always depended on unwritten norms and “good citizenship,” and bad actors erode the culture and push projects toward restrictive licenses.
• Some see alleged attempts to extract large payments from a hosting company as bordering on extortion; others frame it as hard‑nosed negotiation, with courts to decide legality.

Job Titles, Hiring, and Compensation

• The “Happiness Engineer” title is mocked as Orwellian and diluting “engineer.”
• Others defend it as light-hearted branding for demanding support roles.
• Concerns raised about senior support requirements paired with relatively low salary bands, interpreted by some as global wage arbitrage; defenders note the firm is fully remote by design.

Workplace Relationships and Culture

• Some readers relate strongly to the author’s grief over departing colleagues, describing deep friendships and positive culture.
• Others find such emotional attachment to coworkers unhealthy, keeping a clear work–life separation.
• There’s pushback that not caring about coworkers is itself a red flag about personal or cultural health.

Rodney King Reference and Tone

• Several find the use of a famous plea from a brutal police‑violence episode jarringly disproportionate to a corporate layoff dispute.
• Others see it as a simple cultural reference about conflict, not a direct comparison of suffering.
• The closing paragraphs are widely criticized as overly corporate, even sycophantic, which fuels suspicion that the piece functions as employer PR.

Medical Debt and Financial Context

• Readers are disturbed that someone at a well-known tech firm struggles with medical debt, questioning healthcare coverage or pay.
• Others note that even good insurance can leave large uncovered costs, and separate business failures (conferences, publishing) can compound financial strain.