Displaying 1 To 17 Of 17 Comments Some Orgnizations And WordPress Just Don’t Mix @Jane Wells – It seems you might have forgotten about this – http://wpblogger.com/mullenweg-the-coward.php (which includes documentation – http://wpblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/matt-email.jpg) » Posted By Ben Cook On January 15, 2012 @ 6:06 PM Unfortunately this nastiness is detracting from the overall point being made (and made well) by @KevinJohn. However, WordPress’ leadership reacting like this is the first time a dissenter has been attacked or harassed simply for daring to question WordPress’ sanctity is laughable. Matt himself led the angry mob against Chris Pearson for daring to have a different legal opinion than the one WordPress put forward. As @Andreas mentioned, it was Matt himself who tried to have me fired for questioning his leadership of the WordPress project. The treatment of @Kevinjohn is reprehensible but it’s hardly surprising given the combative “with us or against us” culture WordPress leadership has cultivated. » Posted By Ben Cook On January 15, 2012 @ 5:46 PM @Matt – You need to see a picture of my wife. I do just fine thanks :D @Carl Hancock – If it’s spoofed, it holds amazingly well to his recent pattern of behavior. » Posted By Ben Cook On July 17, 2010 @ 12:02 PM I would also encourage everyone to read the comments and Tweets Matt made prior to the interview on mixology. Matt has criticized the way people frame or present their arguments countless times even if they are right in their critiques. Apparently Matt doesn’t hold himself to the standard of being professional in his disagreements or bothering to back up his claims. » Posted By Ben Cook On July 16, 2010 @ 9:31 PM @donnacha | WordSkill – I meant apologist not in the sense of saying they’re sorry, but rather the “one who speaks in defense” of something sense of the word. @Dan Cole – there are too many contradictions in your response to make my response brief and I doubt Jeffro wants this to turn into yet another GPL debate. However, your response at least illustrates that most of the disagreement and criticism of Matt, Jane & Automattic has nothing to do with whether they’re good or bad people, but their actions & decisions impacting the WordPress community. To make matters worse, it’s apparently perfectly acceptable to state that people who don’t wish to license their work under the GPL are selfish, but criticizing a decision made by Jane is somehow morally wrong? Give me a break. » Posted By Ben Cook On May 31, 2010 @ 10:37 PM Donnacha, I can assure you my criticism of Matt & Jane has nothing to do with not being part of an in crowd. Furthermore, I would LOVE to receive a “thoughtful, well-reasoned response from, you know, an actual, real-life human being.” To date, the rebuttal of my points seem to be a) you’re just jealous & b) how dare you question the almighty Matt? That’s hardly what I’d consider thoughtful or well reasoned. While I have no idea what kind of person Jane is, other than obviously quite convincing in person, none of that changes the very valid issues that are raised. This effort by Automattic apologists to somehow dismiss any criticism that doesn’t happen in person as completely useless is ridiculous. I’d be happy to say the same things I’ve said in print to anyone’s face. Also, remember that this knife cuts both ways. Would Matt call people poisonous to their face? Why is it the critics of Automattic’s involvement in WordPress or Matt & Jane’s war of ideological purity in regards to the GPL are held to a higher standard than Matt or his supporters? » Posted By Ben Cook On May 31, 2010 @ 4:48 PM @Dave Moyer – I was using those ludicrous examples of getting a check or publishing a post to illustrate how ridiculous the claim that WordPress.org is a community run site. Automattic employees maintain control at all levels of WordPress.org and if you don’t think they’ll always make decisions in Automattic’s best interest then I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you. » Posted By Ben Cook On October 22, 2009 @ 3:29 PM @Jeffro – the quote marks next to the word Matt actually do look a lot like horns :D » Posted By Ben Cook On October 22, 2009 @ 3:13 PM @Jeffro – I guess I’m confused why it would have taken Matt 6 years and counting to make WordPress.org a non-profit if he really wanted to do that. A good friend of mine set up a non-profit in about 9 months without the help of any lawyers etc. I don’t see why it would take Matt 6+ years to get it done. Also, as long as Automattic employees are a majority on the board, dev team or whatever, they’ll maintain control no matter what form it takes. And it doesn’t surprise me that Matt would give that response to your question. Why would he say differently? I’m sorry but acting like Automattic’s finances don’t affect decisions made about WordPress.org is idiotic. Matt’s job is to provide as large of a return for his investors as possible. If he can do something on WordPress.org that improves Automattic’s revenue he SHOULD do so or he’s doing his investors a dis-service. The intricate nature of the relationship is exactly why it’s an issue and exactly why it’s so laughable for Toni to act like there’s no conflict of interest and that WordPress.org is a completely separate & independent entity. » Posted By Ben Cook On October 22, 2009 @ 2:55 PM @Brad Potter – I’m guessing the answer is probably something along the lines of the lead dev team makes those decisions. I’m also sure it’s just a coincidence that Automattic employees make up 3 of the 5 lead dev members. » Posted By Ben Cook On October 22, 2009 @ 1:50 PM @Ron – If the site is community run, I should certainly get a say in where those funds go right? Maybe I just haven’t paid enough attention but the fact that we don’t KNOW where the funds go seems to in itself suggest the site isn’t run by the community. The fact of the matter is Automattic is interwoven with WordPress and if they want to act like they don’t control things then we the community should force them to abide by it instead of getting to control things when they want but not own them when it’s legally or financially convenient for them. » Posted By Ben Cook On October 22, 2009 @ 1:34 PM Toni, I can’t believe you’re actually trying to act like Automattic doesn’t run the show on WordPress.org. If it’s a community site then I guess if enough members of the community agree, then I get to publish my next post on the home page of WordPress.org right? Also, would you care to share where the affiliate commissions that WordPress.org earns are distributed? I’ve been a member of the community for a while and have yet to see a check for my share of those funds. Give me a freaking break! » Posted By Ben Cook On October 22, 2009 @ 12:59 PM @Elpie – We’re not saying who can or can’t use WordPress, we’re simply saying that those people who don’t update shouldn’t be blaming WordPress, they should be blaming themselves. Most releases aren’t just one or two lines of code. The security portions maybe, but often times they fix other bugs, and make a few other tweaks while they’re at it. The upgrade process is just a matter of a few clicks as long as you’ve done your job right ahead of time. Complaining about that strikes me as lazy. This bitching about WordPress’ security when a secure release has been out for nearly a month is ridiclous. If you install a home security system but don’t arm it or lock your door, there’s not much anyone can do. If you manage sites that can’t upgrade, then you’re putting those sites at risk by using WordPress, plain and simple. Of course, the same would be true of any open source CMS. So in reality, the problem is with you and those sites, not the CMS. If you or your clients or anyone else is going to use WordPress but not upgrade for any reason, they’ll probably have to deal with being hacked. » Posted By Ben Cook On September 7, 2009 @ 1:59 AM @Elpie – as Viper said, if you can’t update WordPress on a regular basis (for any of the reasons you mentioned) you shouldn’t be using it. It’s that simple. People use it for the simplicity, the wide array of plugins, and the huge community that offers support, but all those benefits have a cost as well. In much the same way, editing core files should only be done with the realization that it’s going to cost you in the long run when it comes time to update it. It might save you time at the beginning but you’ll have to pay the piper at some point. As I said, I think it’s time for Automattic and WP to take security to a professional level and the recent release cycle has been ridiculous but there’s just no excuse for not updating, especially when the most recent release is nearly a month old. » Posted By Ben Cook On September 7, 2009 @ 12:56 AM I realize people do a lot of custom stuff with WordPress, but it’s been a long time since I had an upgrade not go smoothly and it’s been a decent while since an upgrade broke a critical plugin as well. I don’t know if somehow the web just has a long memory of back when those things happened frequently or I’m just not the typical WP user but I have plenty of sites and it’s not a big deal to keep them updated. Annoying? Yes. But not that big of a deal. For someone like Scoble to call out WordPress despite the fact that he wasn’t uptodate is just irresponsible (although unfortunately also quite typical of the drivel that’s spewed by him on a regular basis). Now, I don’t think Matt handled it all that well getting pissed at rackspace but the point remains, if you keep things updated, you avoid a large percentage of the issues that hit WordPress users. I don’t mean to drone on, but I think it’s time for Automattic to invest in WordPress security more heavily. I understand it’s open source and always going to be under attack, but hiring someone with a devious mind to try and break things would seem like a great investment and would go a long way to assuring worried users that WP will remain safe and stable. » Posted By Ben Cook On September 6, 2009 @ 11:17 PM Are We Afraid To Do What We Want With Our Blogs? I think it’s more a culture issue, you know? If you’ve always published long blog posts, it can be risky to change the culture around your blog. I think Adii is right as well that sometimes a short post just doesn’t look as good as it does on other services so it reinforces your tendency to write “normal” length posts. This is a great discussion though and it’s interesting to read all the different views. » Posted By Ben Cook On August 20, 2009 @ 11:19 AM @Matt – you said There was nothing more or less tested about 2.8 than previous releases. and to me, that’s the problem. You’ve had 4 releases in less than 5 weeks. One because the developers admittedly just missed a few places where a known vulnerability existed, and this one which apparently was actually a vulnerability for quite some time. Maybe with the recent track record of releases there SHOULD be more testing going on. A lot of people are getting sick of updating their sites so frequently and if you don’t want to start losing users to other platforms that at least appear to be more stable, action needs to be taken. Acting like nothing’s wrong isn’t what most of us want to hear right now. » Posted By Ben Cook On August 12, 2009 @ 10:43 AMComments Posted By Ben Cook
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