[okayishdefaults]

Disclosure: I've worked at WPE.

Consider that WP Engine's business model revolves around WordPress being a problematic platform for their customers in one way or another. They support sites that would otherwise need to be replaced if it were to continue being scaled. This keeps those customers, the whales, in the WordPress ecosystem.

Plugin and theme developers, digital marketing agencies, and independent web developers continue to put food on the table because of a market that otherwise wouldn't exist. This is healthy for the ecosystem.

Conversely, Matt used that market, the users, as leverage against WP Engine. He caused a deep loss of trust in WordPress as a platform for any serious business. He acted in spite of the community.

I don't think WP Engine is particularly "good", but they don't weaponize users for business goals under the guise of altruism.

[nostromo]

> Matt used that market, the users, as leverage against WP Engine.

Matt has no obligation to make some other company's customers happy. Even less so when that company has refused to work with WordPress despite basing their entire business around its success.

WP Engine has always been a bit scummy. Their name does attempt to make them sound like they are the official WordPress hosting service. This all could have been avoided if they agreed to WordPress' licensing agreement, but now they've both gone into scorched-Earth mode and will both decline.