> I also know that the Maker-Taker problem is an issue in open source, just as I know that a friend you buy lunch for every day, and who earns as much money as you do, is supposed to return the favor now and then. If a friend takes advantage, you’re supposed to say or do something about it. Addressing these imbalances is rarely pretty. Doing it in public takes its own kind of courage. Now it’s for the lawyers to sort out.
The author is repeating the narrative put forward by their CEO, but they don't address the actual problem here.
Very few people who are up in arms against Matt's behavior believe that WP Engine is a good company. Most of us believe that they were probably doing everything that Matt claims they were doing. Very few of us wouldn't have preferred to see them contributing more. That's not at issue here.
What's at issue is that Matt's behavior in September revealed him to be either extremely unstable, not as altruistic as he claims, or both. In what turned into a PR battle against a private equity firm exploiting an open source project, he held all the cards and he squandered every last one of them.
He suddenly and without any warning (to those outside) started blasting a company that he'd recently praised, using harsher language than is ever effective in public discourse. The private equity firm responded with an extremely convincing Cease and Desist letter that published frankly shocking texts from Matt that show him apparently attempting to extort them into paying his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars per year. Not contribute to the foundation (which we learned he effectively personally controls), his for-profit company.
Then, when the private equity company fired back, Matt used his control over the plugin ecosystem to shut every last one of that company's customers—WordPress users and developers, many of whom are open source contributors—out of the plugin ecosystem. The plugin ecosystem is the WordPress ecosystem, and none of us knew that Matt could singlehandedly lock millions of people out of it without warning.
That's what's at issue now. The private equity exploitation may have started it, but Matt made this about his behavior.
The link to we're hiring shows the first position they're looking to fill is a "Happiness Engineer", https://i.imgur.com/zSVeuYq.png.
> Our software and services aim to provide a seamless experience, but when things don’t go as planned, our customers rely on us for help. Happiness Engineers are the frontline heroes ensuring we deliver the best experience for our users. Their role is crucial because they interact with our customers the most and make the biggest impression in their time of need.
I have a tough time relating to "[believing] in the work we do" at a for-profit company, especially one that just makes blogs. I work at a somewhat similar commercial open source company, I really enjoy my job, and I adore my direct collegues, but I've thought a lot over the past few years that if in a similar position I would almost definitely take the offer.
A job you like where ~10% of your colleges leave is a job I would probably enjoy a whole lot less.
I hope the decision works out for him. Six months salary is really only a big bag of cash if 1) you have a decent salary, and 2) you can be confident of landing a job of equal or better salary within the six-month window. Otherwise you're just going to burn through it. Given the way hiring has been in the tech world of late, it's easy to imagine it taking six months or more to get a decent job -- you can easily spend several months interviewing to have a role disappear.
FWIW I'd have to be pretty pissed and/or have no confidence in the direction of the company & its leadership and/or have another job/work lined up already to jump ship on a few days' notice like that.
It's a nice sentiment, but are you helping people by granting the wishes of an unshackled combative owner? Could you take the money and help people more by working for a company with more careful leadership? Wordpress isn't the only CMS out there...
What's the background on doing a soft layoff (or w/e) and hiring at the same time? Many of us have seen one of these close-up, just wondering what the case is here.
The author is repeating the narrative put forward by their CEO, but they don't address the actual problem here.
Very few people who are up in arms against Matt's behavior believe that WP Engine is a good company. Most of us believe that they were probably doing everything that Matt claims they were doing. Very few of us wouldn't have preferred to see them contributing more. That's not at issue here.
What's at issue is that Matt's behavior in September revealed him to be either extremely unstable, not as altruistic as he claims, or both. In what turned into a PR battle against a private equity firm exploiting an open source project, he held all the cards and he squandered every last one of them.
He suddenly and without any warning (to those outside) started blasting a company that he'd recently praised, using harsher language than is ever effective in public discourse. The private equity firm responded with an extremely convincing Cease and Desist letter that published frankly shocking texts from Matt that show him apparently attempting to extort them into paying his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars per year. Not contribute to the foundation (which we learned he effectively personally controls), his for-profit company.
Then, when the private equity company fired back, Matt used his control over the plugin ecosystem to shut every last one of that company's customers—WordPress users and developers, many of whom are open source contributors—out of the plugin ecosystem. The plugin ecosystem is the WordPress ecosystem, and none of us knew that Matt could singlehandedly lock millions of people out of it without warning.
That's what's at issue now. The private equity exploitation may have started it, but Matt made this about his behavior.
> Our software and services aim to provide a seamless experience, but when things don’t go as planned, our customers rely on us for help. Happiness Engineers are the frontline heroes ensuring we deliver the best experience for our users. Their role is crucial because they interact with our customers the most and make the biggest impression in their time of need.
A job you like where ~10% of your colleges leave is a job I would probably enjoy a whole lot less.
FWIW I'd have to be pretty pissed and/or have no confidence in the direction of the company & its leadership and/or have another job/work lined up already to jump ship on a few days' notice like that.