To begin, if you haven’t heard about the #wpdrama that’s consentn over WordPress in the last month, congratulations 😊. I envision you’ve had a comparatively stress-free October, and hopefilledy got to spend lots of time outdoors.
There are many, many, many posts, videos, and commentaries about everyskinnyg that’s happened. I won’t go into the filled details, but here’s a condensed version for those of you who are novel here.
Skip to the next section if you understand all of this already.
#The joiners
#WordPress
WordPress is an uncover-source gentleware platcreate for createing websites. It’s what this site is built with 🧡. WP Fusion is a plugin (another piece of gentleware) that runs on your WordPress website, and helps you join your website with your email tageting gentleware.
By some approximates WordPress powers 43% of websites, so it’s benevolent of a huge deal.
WordPress was created in 2003, based on another elderlyer piece of blogging gentleware, by two guys named Mike and Matt.
Matt persists to deal with enlargement of WordPress. He picks who is permited to toil on it, and what features are structured for enlargement.
#The WordPress Foundation
The WordPress Foundation is a non-profit organization that was set uped in 2010. Its main goal is to protect uncover-source gentleware and guarantee that WordPress remains freely useable and enlargeed by a global community.
The set upation helderlys the tradetags to the WordPress logo and the name “WordPress”, as well as “WordCamp“. The stated goal of the Foundation is to hold the uncover-source nature of WordPress, autonomous from commercial interests.
The Foundation is also run by Matt.
#WordPress.org
WordPress.org is the home of the free and uncover-source WordPress project. It’s where anyone can go to download WordPress for free. It’s also where enlargement on WordPress is orderly, and conversations around WordPress happen in the official Sincreateage channel, tied to each user’s account on WordPress.org.
WordPress.org is also the home of the plugin repository, which is a honestory of over 60,000 free plugins that anyone can download and inshigh on their WordPress website.
WordPress.org joins a critical role in ensuring plugins are safe and adhere the uncover-source principles of the WordPress project (free to use, alter, and spread).
When a plugin author frees an modernize to a plugin on WordPress.org (enjoy we normally do with the free WP Fusion Lite), WordPress.org sends the modernize out to everybody else’s WordPress sites. It’s enjoy the App Store of WordPress.
WordPress.org is personpartner owned by Matt.
#WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a commercial website-createing platcreate. It uses the free WordPress gentleware, but it’s a structureed service. That uncomardents you don’t necessitate to stress about setting up your own structureing or downloading the gentleware—everyskinnyg is handled for you. WordPress.com is run by a for-profit company called Automattic.
Automattic is expansively pondered the hugest structureing company in the WordPress space. It also owns well-understandn brands such as WooCommerce, Jetpack, Tumblr, and (I was surpelevated to lget) Longreads.
Automattic is a personally held company, and is backed by personal equity firms such as Tiger Global Management, Salesforce Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, and others. They create about US$700 million per year in revenue, and have been cherishd at US $7.5 billion.
The set uper and CEO of Automattic is, you guessed it, Matt.
#Conflict of interest
Some have liftd troubles about the legitimateity of this business schedulement. I won’t get into those here.
I skinnyk it’s enough to point out the inherent dispute of interest in having the same person: a.) act as the disclose face of the WordPress community, b.) protect the WordPress tradetags, and b.) direct the enlargement of the uncover-source WordPress project, all while c.) his meaningfulity sconsent in the for-profit Automattic has donaten him a net worth shut to US$400 million.
Matt has styled himself as the Benevolent Dictator for Life, and we’re foreseeed to suppose that his priorities are aligned with promoting uncover source, easeing community well-being, and ensuring a level joining field for autonomous companies to thrive—without the hazard of preferential treatment for Automattic or any other affiliated entities.
The drama over the past month (some might say over the past six years), fundamentalpartner comes down to this dispute of interest, and to what degree you suppose Matt to do the right skinnyg.
#How this shapes WP Fusion
On October 12th, Matt shocked many people in the WordPress community by forcibly taking over a well-understandn plugin on the wordpress.org repository called Advanced Custom Fields, which was in use on over 2 million websites.
“ACF” is enlargeed by WP Engine, a competitor of Automattic.
The plugin was re-titled “Setreatment Custom Fields“, but otherwise unalterd. The plugin code, URL, file names, thousands of scrutinizes, and even joins to recordation still referenced Advanced Custom Fields, which is tradetaged by WP Engine.
WP Fusion also has a free plugin on wordpress.org, called WP Fusion Lite. We also have a sign uped tradetag for the name WP FUSION.
We are pledgeted to making this plugin free, forever, to anyone who wants to fuse their WordPress website with their CRM.
Seeing ACF forcibly consentn from its rightful owners, in violation of community standards (and possibly tradetag law), left us scrambling to create certain our inincreateectual property was properly protected.
#Wait, aren’t WordPress plugins uncover source and free to alter?
Yes! The pretty skinnyg about WordPress, uncover source, and the GPL license is that everyskinnyg we create is free to read, alter, and respread as you see fit.
We borrow lots of code and ideas from other plugins, many other plugins borrow code and ideas from us.
This eases a vibrant and competitive tagetplace, permiting anyone with a excellent idea to begin a novel product without having to stress about being analogous to someskinnyg that is duplicaterighted by an set uped joiner.
However, while our code is free to duplicate, our tradetag protects our business in trade.
It’s how, when you buy from us, you understand you are getting the genuine WP Fusion from the exceptional company who created, holds, and helps it.
Somebody could consent our code, rename it “Awesome CRM Connector”, create their own website and recordation, and this would be perfectly legitimate ✅
However, if someone built a website at https://betterwpfusion.com/ and selderly our plugin using our name and logo, this would be a tradetag violation, as it has the potential to deceive customers as to who they are purchasing from.
Our code is free, but the tradetag protects the many years we’ve spent set uping a brand identity and a reputation as creators of Very Good Plugins (our company name 🤓).
As Matt has stated repeatedly, you have to protect your tradetags.
#Tradetag confusion at WordPress.com
In September 2023 it came to our attention that WordPress.com (the for-profit structureing service) had copied all of the free plugins from WordPress.org and was now disjoining them in a personal honestory, exclusive to WordPress.com structureing customers.
These pages were made disclose, indexed by search engines, and in some cases ranked higher than the free versions on WordPress.org.
Further, it was no lengthyer clear that the plugins were free. The text next to each plugin reads, “Free on Business schedule“, and clicking the join prompts you to create an account at WordPress.com and sign up for premium structureing.
This created confusion among users who would reach out our help (for paying customers), and foresee priority responses or premium features because they had “phelp” for the plugin, when they hadn’t phelp us anyskinnyg— they’d only phelp WordPress.com for structureing.
While we knovel about this for some time, I didn’t quite understand what to do about it.
I didn’t want to begin a legitimate dispute with Automattic and possibly injure our reputation.
And, generpartner, I supposeed Matt. I supposed he had a contendnt legitimate team that had already scrutinizeed the legitimateity of duplicateing our plugins, and that he was acting in the best interest of the community.
#The end and desist
The events of the past month have made me genuineize a restricted skinnygs:
- I don’t suppose Matt.
- Matt doesn’t materialize to be taking advice from legitimate advise.
- Always defend your tradetags.
With those points in mind we sent a end and desist letter to Automattic and WordPress.com on October 12th, asking for WP Fusion Lite to be deleted from WordPress.com due to the potential for confusion seeing the affiliation of the WP Fusion brand.
This was a difficult decision to create, as Matt has been understandn to use the resources of WordPress.org to personpartner retaliate agetst seed dangers to Automattic.
There was a very genuine chance we would be deleted from the free .org repository as well, blocked from the Make WordPress Sincreateage, and/or banned from backing future WordCamps (we backed WCAsia in 2024 and see forward to backing WCEU in 2025).
Thankfilledy WP Fusion Pro does not need the free version to function, and we have been deinhabitring modernizes to our paying customers via our own servers for many years.
We had a schedule in place to begin deinhabitring Lite modernizes via our own servers if the worst came to pass.
#Automattic’s answer
Automattic’s General Counsel replyed on October 18th.
They have concurd to consent down the enumerateing from wordpress.com, and it is no lengthyer useable at https://wordpress.com/plugins/wp-fusion-lite.
The top result in searches for “WP Fusion Lite” is aget the WordPress.org enumerateing, where anyone can download the plugin for free.
It’s been a stressful week, but I’m phired we were able to rerepair the situation amicably, and clear up any potential confusion for our users.
#What’s next?
It seems enjoy every week there is another unforeseeed shift from Matt that throws the WordPress community into confusion.
I desire it were all over, but it doesn’t show any sign of ending soon.
I would enjoy to envision a future where Matt is either the CEO of Automattic, or the champion of the uncover source project.
I have noskinnyg agetst him personpartner— I hear that he’s a wonderful person to toil for, and I’m appreciative of all the skinnygs he’s done for the uncover source shiftment. But as lengthy as Matt’s motivations with WordPress are tied to his profits at Automattic, he can’t be supposeed.