[mattl]

Can you clarify if "Executive Director of WordPress.org" is the same job as "Executive Director of the WordPress Foundation"?

I know you personally own wordpress.org and not the foundation (as many people suspected) so this is unclear.

[slouch]

Executive Director of WordPress.org is simply a job title at Automattic. Josepha found out about the WP Engine ban from wordpress.org in real time along with the rest of the community.

[bzmrgonz]

There is a wordpressfoundation<dot>org, so I doubt it. In my opinion <dot>org is software repo/wp-inc HQ.. and <dot>com is commercial and hosting enterprise. But of course, let's hear from the horse's mouth himself!! :-P

[photomatt]

Totally different. The Foundation has no employees, only volunteers and three board members. (I'm one of them.)

[vinnysgreen]

What legal entity is WordPress.org insured under, and who cuts the checks?

[ankleturtle]

Wordpress.org isn't a legal entity. It's simply a domain owned by Matt. It seems Matt has a license to use the Wordpress trademarks.

The Wordpress Foundation is a non-profit legal entity with a tiny budget. It appears the only thing it does is serve as a holding entity for the trademarks and the for-profit company than operates the WordCamp conferences.

I suspect that Automattic is the one who foots the bill for the infrastructure behind Wordpress.org, but that's not clear.

Matt talks about transparency, but how everything operates is a muddled mess.

[FireBeyond]

> Wordpress.org isn't a legal entity. It's simply a domain owned by Matt.

Automattic's website (https://automattic.com/2024/10/02/wordpress-trademarks-a-leg...) says otherwise:

> The Foundation also licensed the name WordPress to the non-profit WordPress.org, which runs a website that facilitates access to WordPress-related software.

[ankleturtle]

The article has been updated.

> The Foundation also licensed the name to the website WordPress.org, which facilitates widespread access to WordPress-related software at no charge.

[FireBeyond]

Matt is apparently in full-blown CYA mode.

He's far too used to just referring to, and treating, all these entities synonymously, and now that someone is pointing out all these glaring little admissions of exactly that, he is frantically trying to alter the record.

He's obviously paying close attention to HN, even when he's not on a posting binge making things worse. One can only imagine WP Engine's lawfirm is doing the same.

[ankleturtle]

This is straight from Matt, himself:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41782365

[mattl]

I’d love to see something on the foundation website which explains this.

Thanks for your reply.

[neilperetz]

Indeed, a blog post with more detail is forthcoming.