Is Matt Mullenweg defending WordPress or sabotaging it?

Automattic hiring process & culture

• Several commenters describe Automattic’s recruitment as unusually long and demanding: detailed written questions, Slack and Zoom interviews, multi‑day coding tests, and multi‑week paid “trials” done alongside a full‑time job.
• Some see the process as exploitative or unrealistic for adults with jobs and families; others note the coding trial is paid, so not clearly a labor‑law issue.
• Mandatory company‑wide offsite gatherings and heavy internal jargon (“Automatticians”) are described as cultish by some.
• Cold recruiter outreach is widely interpreted as mass sourcing rather than a sign of candidate quality.

Nature of the WP Engine conflict

• Many see the core issue as the commercial entity behind WordPress going after a major hosting provider built on WordPress, framed as trademark protection and “ecosystem support.”
• Critics argue enforcement is selective and late: similar uses of “WP” and core‑feature modifications exist elsewhere without consequence.
• There is debate over whether disabling or limiting features (like revisions) on a hosted WordPress counts as harming the project versus legitimate product differentiation.

Open source, trademarks & money

• One side: open source licenses allow what WP Engine is doing; expecting retroactive revenue‑sharing is viewed as incompatible with OSS norms and tantamount to extortion.
• Another side: trademarks, infrastructure, and brand reputation are separate from code; a big commercial player monetizing the stack without “giving back” is seen as parasitic and fair to confront.
• Some compare this to databases changing licenses in response to cloud vendors, but others note those projects explicitly changed licenses while WordPress remains GPL.

Perception of leadership behavior

• Many describe the CEO’s public responses (to WP Engine, to another OSS figure, and to Tumblr users) as petty, ego‑driven, and disastrous PR that overshadows any legitimate concerns.
• Others think both sides are “in the wrong,” or that the CEO’s underlying points about sustainability and fair contribution are valid but expressed destructively.
• There is pushback against armchair mental‑health or drug speculation; several see the pile‑on itself as excessive.

Ecosystem trust, forks & future

• Commenters worry about centralization of control: the foundation, WordPress.org, and the company are seen as effectively the same person, undermining prior claims of independence.
• The abrupt change in messaging around “WP” trademarks and admin‑panel messaging is viewed as creating uncertainty and chilling effects for plugin authors, hosts, and enterprises.
• Some predict a long, slow decline or “death spiral” for WordPress and call for a fork; others note that network effects and WordPress’s low barrier to entry may keep it dominant despite controversy, much like Twitter or Reddit.