[shprd]

Where do you get the idea that "he didn't like their success" when he helped them ever since their inception?

Can you mention any specific events before the recent debacle that show Matt have been anything but supportive of them for all these years?

[ImPostingOnHN]

Why should we place a cutoff? We can discuss his behavior as of late, as well: Matt saw a successful corporation using wordpress, just like his own, and demanded that they give his own for-profit corporation a large chunk of their revenue. When they declined his request, matt started fabricating all these gripes about private equity and contribution level.

It's quite telling that we don't see matt attacking less successful companies which do the same thing as WPEngine, much less putting forth the same pretexts for it.

Should matt have such a veto power over what the community wants? Put another way, the community has tolerated matt's behavior, but he keeps digging more and more – how do we stop his bad behavior?

And back to the first question: "tolerated" by who? The community embraced WPEngine and their contributions to the community. It's matt that the community can't tolerate.

[shprd]

> saw a successful corporation using wordpress, just like his own

That's hilarious because Matt and Automattic actually invested in WP Engine, supported them in many ways ever since their inception and helped them be more successful and reach this level.

Your entire argument about "jealous of success" falls apart if you look only few months back. He wanted them to succeed for years and years, even after private equity, he still saw them as partners.

[ImPostingOnHN]

None of that makes the "entire argument fall apart". Sounds like he regrets doing that.

The argument that matt is doing this for the community, though, totally falls apart when we see that he is actively harming community members, and the argument that he's doing it for open source totally falls apart when we see that he tried to extort WPEngine for money into his own pocket before contriving the aforementioned pretexts.

Why just WPEngine? It seems because they're successful and he's jealous of their money (hence demanding they give it to him, and not the community).

Should matt have such a veto power over what the community wants? Put another way, the community has tolerated matt's behavior, but he keeps digging more and more – how do we stop his bad behavior?

And back to the first question: "tolerated" by who? The community embraced WPEngine and their contributions to the community. It's matt that the community can't tolerate.

[shprd]

Look here and see how everyone contribute: https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/pledges/?order=hou...

>shake down WPEngine for money into his own pocket

It's not going to Matt pocket, Matt pays that multiple folds and has done that for years. Stop making ignorant accusations.

[ImPostingOnHN]

> It's not going to Matt pocket

Yes, it is. He demanded WPEngine pay 8% of revenues to Automattic. Not to the community. To Automattic: matt's private, for-profit corporation. The one matt runs along with a private equity friend of his. The one matt likely owns much of, too. The one matt named after himself.

Also, please stop ignoring the questions posed to you:

Should matt have such a veto power over what the community wants? Put another way, the community has tolerated matt's behavior, but he keeps digging more and more – how do we stop his bad behavior?

And back to the first question: "tolerated" by who? The community embraced WPEngine and their contributions to the community. It's matt that the community can't tolerate.

[shprd]

I answered what I can but here let me put your mind at rest:

> Should matt have such a veto power over what the community wants? Put another way, the community has tolerated matt's behavior, but he keeps digging more and more – how do we stop his bad behavior?

Am I sitting on some regulatory board? What this got to do with me? if I had to propose anything it'd be form a board from all major contributors to solve this conflict and reach a resolution

> "tolerated" by who? The community embraced WPEngine and their contributions to the community. It's matt that the community can't tolerate.

No, Matt supported and invested in them for years, before you and "the community" even heard about them. He was the one there from the very beginning.

[throw16180339]

> It's quite telling that we don't see matt attacking less successful companies which do the same thing as WPEngine, much less putting forth the same pretexts for it.

If he succeeds with WP Engine, then he'll probably shake down other companies in the future.