WordPress Drama: When Code, Egos, and Power Collide
A look at the escalating feud between Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, and how the WordPress community finds itself caught in the middle of a real-life tech drama.
Google News keeps pushing posts and articles about the so-called “WordPress Drama.” I read most of them. Then, some tech influencers — if that’s the right term — started jumping on the bandwagon, and their videos got recommended to me as well.
I wasn’t planning to write about this, but after watching Theo’s latest video on the topic, I decided to share my opinion too.
He shouldn’t have acted that way. We should all avoid getting involved in the drama until the two main characters get married.
If you’re in a hurry, that’s the gist of this post. Feel free to go on with your life. But if you have some time to waste, stick around until the end.
The Drama
The drama revolves around two main characters — or rather, it’s about one man named Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and the head of a company built around it called Automattic.
The other player, or the “villain,” as Matt seems to have cast them in his narrative, is a company called WP Engine.
The whole story boils down to Matt wanting a slice of WP Engine’s profits. That’s it!
WordPress
WordPress is a software — or more accurately, a web application — that powers over one-third of the internet. It’s built with the most hated programming language, PHP, and comes with its own coding and naming conventions that most of the community happily ignores.
You can hate on it all you want, but dominating the realm of website builders is something worth praising.
When I first used WordPress, I had three options:
- WordPress
- Joomla
- Drupal
I chose WordPress, multiple times. It’s like the vBulletin of forums, which, by the way, is still the most used community forum software, holding 32% of the market, according to BuiltWith.
But unlike vBulletin, WordPress is open source. Underline that last part.
Automattic
Founded by our main character, Matt, in 2005, Automattic was one of the early champions of the remote work culture. It’s also the biggest contributor to the WordPress project and foundation.
To most, it’s been a great company — until this drama unfolded. It’s true, nothing lasts forever… except God.
WP Engine
A hosting provider founded in 2010. Like Automattic, their main product revolves around WordPress services. They’re top-tier, and their founder is someone you should take notes from if you’re starting a business.
From my perspective, WP Engine has always been that expensive, unrealistic hosting provider. I’ve never used their services, but I’ve always admired their founder, Jason. His advice is solid, and you can check out one of his talks here.
Supporting Characters
Side characters, if you will. We’re all in the background!
I’m not a KDrama info page to list everyone, but I’ll highlight three I follow outside the drama.
- ThePrimeagen: A guy who knows his way around software engineering. Loves his wife — though not as much as he loves Neovim. He’s a preacher for that editor. He broght Matt as a guest on his channel on YouTube.
- DHH: Creator of Ruby on Rails and the face of 37signals. He recently switched to Neovim, thanks to ThePrimeagen’s influence. He didn’t say it outright, but we all know. He wrote few articles about the matter.
- Theo: A YouTuber who covers TypeScript and related dev stuff like the Primeagen. He brought Matt as a guest as well. You can check it here.
These three have had their moments in the spotlight during this drama.
Theo — t3.gg
In his latest video about the drama, Theo covered what DHH posted on the situation and updated us on Matt’s response when he got mad.
The damn checkbox that says: “ I am not associated with WP Engine”.
Yes, Matt added a checkbox to the WordPress.org login page that says that! He also took control of ACF, a plugin with millions of active installations and ongoing development, just because it’s from WP Engine.
Matt’s anger is spiraling, but before he went full “mad,” he sought advice. And, as Theo mentioned, Matt asked him for his thoughts. Theo told him to calm down, especially about the checkbox and the plugin takeover. But Matt didn’t listen and went through with both.
In this scene, we witness an agitated Matt — a man losing touch with reality, letting emotions cloud his judgment. He’s carried away by motives we may never fully understand.
What does Theo do in that scene? You can watch the clip yourself here.
So!
When someone’s mad, you either leave them be because there’s nothing you can do, or you try to help them regain their sanity. We often think we can help, only to hit the wall of our own limits. When we realize we can’t, we tend to quit quickly. But that abrupt withdrawal can worsen the situation. Helping without sinking the ship is a noble task, and it’s not easy. You can switch boats, but don’t be the one to make them sink.
It’s an Airing Drama
We can’t skip to the last episode to see how this unfolds. Unfortunately, anything can happen.
From my perspective, Matt’s in a tight spot. It’s hard for him to backtrack without losing something. But nothing is worse than a tarnished reputation. The comments and actions fueling this fire are making it worse.
He could call it quits, pull back and apologize, or even resign. But a broken man can do the unthinkable. Revenge isn’t always loud — it can come with a smile. Like in any drama, the villain might laugh and make you feel safe… right before they strike.
What could happen?
The 43% of the web that WordPress powers could crumble with a single update. Matt could use what he co-created to end it all. Or, maybe, we’ll get a happy ending where the two sides make peace.
Uncle Bob
Whenever I see a drama like this — or anything that threatens to bring the internet down — I always think of Uncle Bob and one of his talks on clean code. In it, he urges developers and software engineers to regulate the field and follow best practices. He’s right. We need to protect ourselves from external forces. If we don’t, when disaster strikes because of us, governments (with the U.S. at the forefront) will force us to follow regulations made by people who don’t understand what we do — or worse, by that guy at your job who never does the work but takes all the credit.
Be Responsible
Don’t act childishly. If you can help, do it — and if you can do it privately, even better. Otherwise, stay quiet and watch from the side. This isn’t just a show where you can review each episode and move on — your actions affect the story. In real life, especially in dramas like this, every move can make things worse. Be responsible for what you do, or the whole plot can spiral out of control.
Thank you!
