Automattic says it will reduce its contribution to the core WordPress project to accommodate WP Engine
It’s a new year, but the drama in the WordPress community continues. automaticThe company that runs WordPress.com said it will reduce its contribution to WordPress core, the open source project that serves as the backbone for most of Automattic’s products and ensures the longevity of WordPress as a technology and community.
Automattic CEO and WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg was there Quarrel with WP Engine Since September last year on the issue of contributing to WordPress as an open source and community project.
In a Blog postThe company said that it will reduce the number of hours it commits to Five Program for the Future To match the contribution of competing hosting provider WP Engine in terms of weekly hours.
“As part of this reset, Automattic will match its volunteer pledge with those made by WP Engine and other players in the ecosystem, or about 45 hours per week that qualify under the Five For the Future program as beneficial to the entire community and not just one company,” Automattic said in the latest Blog post: “These hours will likely go toward security and critical updates.”
The company added that it will redirect resources to the ongoing legal battle against WP Engine.
At last year’s event, Mullenweg WP Engine has been called the “Cancer of WordPress,” Citing a significant stake held by private equity firm Silver Lake in the company and a lack of hosting provider contribution to support sustainable growth. In the new blog post, Automattic points out this fact again.
“WP Engine’s historically small contributions underscore the imbalance that must be addressed for the health of WordPress. We believe in fairness and shared responsibility, and hope this move encourages greater participation across all organizations that benefit from WordPress.”
Automatic contributes throughout 2,560 hours per week, according to Five for The Future’s dashboard. This number is already significantly lower than the 3,900 hours per week that the company contributed in September. It is not clear whether this reduction was due to… The number of employees in the company has decreased Or a shift in overall strategy.
The company’s new blog post also sarcastically noted that members of the “community” have considered working on commercial products like WordPress.com, Presable, WPVIP, Jetpack, and WooCommerce as a contribution to WordPress. So engineers will focus on building these products rather than contributing to the WordPress core. Automattic is also under pressure to perform better financially. In December, BlackRock Reduced its investment in Automattic by 10%. – This was not the first price reduction. Overall, the investment company reduced the value of its investments by more than 50%.
The new guidance regarding contributions to a community project wasn’t the only decision related to WordPress.org. Earlier this week, Thijs Buijs, a core WordPress contributor and the person who led the sustainability team, decided to step down from his role as representative. Sustainability team Focus on the longevity of WordPress by Social, economic and environmental aspects.
According to a Slack screenshot posted on Reddit, Buijs disagreed with Mullenweg’s approach to WordPress development. In response, Mullenweg disbanded the sustainability Slack channel while saying, “Today, I learned we have a sustainability team.” It is worth noting that Mullenweg started The idea for this channel during an event in 2022.
Mullenweg’s approach to the legal battle with WP Engine has attracted calls for a different kind of leadership in the world of WordPress. Last month, Joost de Valk, creator of Yoast, a popular WordPress SEO tool, shared I outlined a plan to create a “unified” approach to the WordPress repository For decentralized access to assets such as plugins and themes.
You can contact this reporter at im@ivanmehta.com Or on the tag: @ivan.42
