My Take

Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of the WordPress open-source project and founder and CEO of Automattic (WordPress.com), has a real talent of being a bit of a dictator around the open-source project, which is and should be a group effort.

Recently, Cameron Jones on his blog wrote a hard hitting piece about what he thinks of the requests for volunteers for the open-source project.

He makes some very good points:

• WordPress is not a community driven project, it’s a dictator driven project.
• WordPress is not as important as we think it is. WordPress is just a tool that we all uses to build sites. There are other tools that we can use as well.

He goes on to say that the WordPress Foundation's "Five For The future" isn't the only way you can give back. But often to people like Matt, it's not seen that way.

Cameron sums up his piece:

Many of the ways I give back to WordPress isn't to the core structure of the foundation, but to help out with the WordCamps, help people who are stuck on WordPress questions, that are not always on the WordPress.org forums. But none of these count to "Five For The Future."

It sometimes feels like Matt and the higher-ups in the foundation don't view these contributions as valuable, which can and often does alienate people from contributing.

I actually find what many in the higher echelons think is a free rider problem is actually offensive. Many of us are not free riders. We're just not contributing how THEY think we should. I try and give back how ever I can. Sorry it doesn't count. I'm looking at you Josepha! And though she responded to people who were offended in the comments, I think she needs to clarify her thoughts better in the article, if she didn't mean to call everyone who doesn't contribute the way they think we should is a free rider and bringing down the ship.

WordPress expert Paul Lacey tweeted, "There I was just coming to terms with being a Parasite, and now I'm a Free Rider too. I'm just glad I'm not yet an existential threat."

Everyone who knows me, knows I love WordPress and the community. But like Cameron, in the end WordPress is just a tool to get a site up and running. I can, though I don't want to, use a different content management system (CMS) if need be.

What do you think about all this drama? Hit reply and let me know your thoughts.

Web Finds

• Life At The End Of Your Comfort Zone
  A great piece in HeroPress from a prolific plugin developer, Akshat Choudhary. In this piece he highlights how WordPress is great because it's big enough for everyone to thrive. I agree with him. Akshat also talks about how getting started in a community and on a project can be outside of your comfort zone, but if you give it enough time and effort you can make it comfortable and even welcoming.
• Synchronization can be distracting
  A thought provoking piece by Seth Godin about how things sometimes take time. This is well worth the minute or two to read.
• Inside Facebook's encryption conundrum
  If you don't subscribe to Casey Newton's Platformer newsletter you need to. His insights are top notch. This piece is no different. In this article, Casey highlights how important end-to-end encryption is to people in a post Roe v. Wade world and how Meta (ala Facebook) is trying to grapple with encryption. It's a good read.
• Meta Takes Next Steps in Messaging Encryption Push, with New E2E Features on Messenger and Instagram
  More on Meta encrypting messaging.
• Twitter laid out its approach to the midterm elections, saying it would being removing misleading information more aggressively, “pre-bunk” common misinformation around voting, and offer a dedicated tab for high-quality news.
  This is good news. Let's see how if it ends up working and being implimented.
• LinkedIn Tests New ‘Discover’ Feed, New Groups Elements in Order to Enhance Engagement
  I love LinkedIn. I hope this new feature is a benefit and doesn't ruin the experience.
• Thomas Frank made more than $500k on Notion templates
  This is an interesting thread on Twitter on how creator Thomas Frank made 1/2 a million dollars building out complex and really neat templates for the Notion system. There is a lot of insights here to draw from.
• Newsletters ≠ Email Marketing
  This article makes some great points that many don't realize. Email marketing and Newsletters are inherently different. Have a read and let me know what you think.
• Life At The End Of Your Comfort Zone
  A great piece in HeroPress from a prolific plugin developer, Akshat Choudhary. In this piece he highlights how WordPress is great because it's big enough for everyone to thrive. I agree with him. Akshat also talks about how getting started in a community and on a project can be outside of your comfort zone, but if you give it enough time and effort you can make it comfortable and even welcoming.
• Synchronization can be distracting
  A thought provoking piece by Seth Godin about how things sometimes take time. This is well worth the minute or two to read.
• Inside Facebook's encryption conundrum
  If you don't subscribe to Casey Newton's Platformer newsletter you need to. His insights are top notch. This piece is no different. In this article, Casey highlights how important end-to-end encryption is to people in a post Roe v. Wade world and how Meta (ala Facebook) is trying to grapple with encryption. It's a good read.
• Meta Takes Next Steps in Messaging Encryption Push, with New E2E Features on Messenger and Instagram
  More on Meta encrypting messaging.
• Twitter laid out its approach to the midterm elections, saying it would being removing misleading information more aggressively, “pre-bunk” common misinformation around voting, and offer a dedicated tab for high-quality news.
  This is good news. Let's see how if it ends up working and being implimented.
• LinkedIn Tests New ‘Discover’ Feed, New Groups Elements in Order to Enhance Engagement
  I love LinkedIn. I hope this new feature is a benefit and doesn't ruin the experience.
• Thomas Frank made more than $500k on Notion templates
  This is an interesting thread on Twitter on how creator Thomas Frank made 1/2 a million dollars building out complex and really neat templates for the Notion system. There is a lot of insights here to draw from.
• Newsletters ≠ Email Marketing
  This article makes some great points that many don't realize. Email marketing and Newsletters are inherently different. Have a read and let me know what you think.
• The Key Ingredient Behind High Newsletter Open Rates
  There are some great tips here.
• Neat Stuff Happening Over At Substack
  I like the concept of Substack, even though I prefer to have my newsletter hosted and sent via my site. There are some cool features coming out over there.

Podcast Of Note

I've been a huge fan of Jay Clouse and his Creative Elements podcast for a while now. Jay interviews some of the biggest names in the digital creator space. He's a great interviewer as well. Jay's shows are around an hour long, but every minute you're sitting taking it all in. It's a must listen.

Latest From Entrepreneur's Enigma and Digital Marketing Dive

Until next week, stay curious!

Photo by Fikret tozak on Unsplash