WP.com owner Mat² Mullenweg bashes WP Engine on WordCamp 2024

bikegremlin

A bit of a high-end (corpo) popcorn drama. Video timelines list and my thoughts on the discussion:

https://www.bikegremlin.net/threads/wordpress-com-owner-matt-bashes-on-wp-engine-and-silver-lake-capital.352/

Dazzle

Also, WP.com is not WP (.org)
https://io.bikegremlin.com/34897/wordpress-com-is-not-wordpress-org/

nikhm2n

What I don't understand about all this is what wordpress is blocking from WP Engine, and how wordpress installations on WP Engine got broken.

bikegremlin

@nikhm2n said:
What I don't understand about all this is what wordpress is blocking from WP Engine, and how wordpress installations on WP Engine got broken.

They blocked access from WP Engine's servers, I suppose.
You could make a workaround, that WP Engine folks may have already done.

AuroraZero

Bunch of catty bitches having a slap fight over nothing.

bikegremlin

@AuroraZero said:
Bunch of catty bitches having a slap fight over nothing.

I think it's money. Corporations, and money & power.

imok

I hope I don't get affected by this. Almost all of my sites use ACF from WP Engine.

AuroraZero

@bikegremlin said:

@AuroraZero said:
Bunch of catty bitches having a slap fight over nothing.

I think it's money. Corporations, and money & power.

As I said nothing in the end

nikhm2n

If anyone is looking for a solution, routing traffic through Cloudflare is supposed to fix it. I don't have anything on WP Engine, so can't validate it.

nikhm2n

They blocked access from WP Engine's servers, I suppose.

Wait, why would WP Engine be accessing WP.com's servers.
I would think they just interact with WP.org, the open source project.

bikegremlin

@nikhm2n said:

They blocked access from WP Engine's servers, I suppose.

Wait, why would WP Engine be accessing WP.com's servers.
I would think they just interact with WP.org, the open source project.

They've blocked the access to wp.org servers, apparently.

mwt

@bikegremlin said:
They've blocked the access to wp.org servers, apparently.

Yes, it's crazy. I wonder if WP.org being used as a tool to foreclose on WP.com's largest competitor will imperil its nonprofit status.

vyas

https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/automattic-raises-300-million-at-3-billion-valuation-from-salesforce-ventures/

My Unsubstantiated Hypothesis
With the 7-8 year active investment cycle of venture funds.... WordPress parent company Automattic investors (like Salesforce Ventures) might be concerned that WP Engine's deep integration with WordPress could affect the valuation. And thus impact a potential exit strategy for investors at a lower valuation. WP Engine's rival offerings might make the investors question their existing investment. Whether a further Series E or a strategic sale to another investor, or an IPO... this will be a sore point.

bikegremlin

@vyas said:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/automattic-raises-300-million-at-3-billion-valuation-from-salesforce-ventures/

My Unsubstantiated Hypothesis
With the 7-8 year active investment cycle of venture funds.... WordPress parent company Automattic investors (like Salesforce Ventures) might be concerned that WP Engine's deep integration with WordPress could affect the valuation. And thus impact a potential exit strategy for investors at a lower valuation. WP Engine's rival offerings might make the investors question their existing investment. Whether a further Series E or a strategic sale to another investor, or an IPO... this will be a sore point.

I'd add this - even though it may be a bit far fetched:

Google updates of a year ago have destroyed the traffic of a huge number of websites (and helped a small number of huge corporate sites). The kind of sites that could afford expensive hosting and would be willing to pay for it, but that are not super-huge.

If investors see that the same way, the "40% of the web" and hosting services as assets may not look very appealing (and drop in price, as you've noted).

AuroraZero

DataRecovery

@bikegremlin said:

@nikhm2n said:

They blocked access from WP Engine's servers, I suppose.

Wait, why would WP Engine be accessing WP.com's servers.
I would think they just interact with WP.org, the open source project.

They've blocked the access to wp.org servers, apparently.

This.

Explanation quote from Matt:

they [WPengine] do about half a billion in revenue on top of WordPress and contribute back 40 hours a week, Automattic is a similar size and contributes back 3,915 hours a week.

WP Engine's status page has a corresponding incident: https://wpenginestatus.com/incidents/640187

They consider it "closed – Resolved".

bikegremlin

@DataRecovery said:

@bikegremlin said:

@nikhm2n said:

They blocked access from WP Engine's servers, I suppose.

Wait, why would WP Engine be accessing WP.com's servers.
I would think they just interact with WP.org, the open source project.

They've blocked the access to wp.org servers, apparently.

This.

Explanation quote from Matt:

they [WPengine] do about half a billion in revenue on top of WordPress and contribute back 40 hours a week, Automattic is a similar size and contributes back 3,915 hours a week.

WP Engine's status page has a corresponding incident: https://wpenginestatus.com/incidents/640187

They consider it "closed – Resolved".

Nah. That’s just for the public.
They are not stupid and know very well that it’s far from resolved.