The Article Tells The Story of:
- Account Deactivation Drama: Matt Mullenweg disables WordPress contributor accounts amid rumors of a fork.
- Accusations & Denials: Allegations of planned forks dismissed by key figures.
- Governance Critique: Long-standing governance issues resurface.
- Open Source Showdown: New leadership and mirrors proposed.
What Led to WordPress Contributor Accounts Suspensions?
Automatic CEO Matt Mullenweg recently disabled several contributor accounts, citing alleged plans for a WordPress fork. This move followed claims that two members, Joost de Valk and Karim Marucchi, were planning to initiate a fork of WordPress. While Mullenweg has openly endorsed the idea of forks as a natural part of open-source projects, both de Valk and Marucchi denied such plans, emphasizing their discussions revolved around creating federated mirrors for themes and plugins to address centralization issues.
De Valk’s vision for a decentralized system aimed to reduce reliance on WordPress.org’s single update server. He proposed interconnected repositories to enable independent theme and plugin hosting. Marucchi supported these ideas, with both figures expressing readiness to lead future WordPress releases.
Governance Tensions Reignite
The decision to deactivate contributor accounts has reignited debates over governance and centralization. Figures like Sé Reed, Heather Burns, and Morten Rand-Hendriksen, whose accounts were also deactivated, have raised governance concerns since 2017. Burns and Rand-Hendriksen, who left the project years ago, described the account suspensions as retaliation for their past critiques.
Reed, now leading the WP Community Collective—a nonprofit aimed at fostering open-source collaboration—was also caught in the crossfire. She expressed surprise at her account deactivation, as her organization’s mission aligns with addressing WordPress governance challenges.
The Role of WP Engine
The backdrop to these events includes a legal dispute with WP Engine, a hosting company criticized by Mullenweg for profiting from it without sufficient contributions. WP Engine recently had its access to WordPress resources restored after a court order. Amid this tension, WP Engine expressed interest in supporting federated repositories, a development that appears to align with de Valk and Marucchi’s ideas.
Open-Source and the Fork Debate
Despite the drama, Mullenweg remains open to the creation of a WordPress fork. He acknowledged the beauty of open source, where contributors can freely innovate and potentially reintegrate successful features back into website. He humorously suggested naming the hypothetical fork “JKPress” and proposed a joint summit for collaboration.
The controversy underscores the challenges of managing a large open-source project, particularly as community members call for changes to governance structures and resource allocation. Whether the suggested mirrors and leadership proposals materialize into concrete actions remains uncertain, but they reflect growing demand for decentralization and collaboration within the WordPress ecosystem. Former contributors whose WordPress contributor accounts were disabled claim the move was unjustified and retaliatory.
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