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I like WPEngine for some of our clients and I have no loyalties for any host. So much so that we have started developing/deploying with Docker so that host moves can be fast.
But there is some unreasonable downvoting activity going on today as reported on comments of a post critical of WPEngine. This is a relatively quiet sub so seeing 15+ downvotes on some comments in a span of 5 minutes is very suspicious.
I think it’s more a case of people read WPE’s filing and have read what MM has been publicly posting as well as watching his interviews and have chosen sides. The filing and the comments and interview have been damning. And they saw his comments at WordCsmp which was an inappropriate place and platform for what he said.
I’m not in the WordPress community since a long time ago (although I did once interview at Automattic), but I’ve been in this subreddit and voting recently because Matt’s egregious criminal behaviour and public mental breakdown is a train wreck I can’t stop watching.
WPE doesn’t need to pay anybody when thousands of previously-unengaged people are watching in fascinated horror and cheering for Matt’s downfall.
The entire saga which played out in this sub related to these events has been manipulated by WPE. Much of the pro-WPE sentiment especially early in the timeline has been so obviously manufactured.
I’m too busy to really give a shit about any of this. DigitalOcean is my home for WP websites.
As a Laravel developer who subbed here just to keep an eye on this part of the PHP community, This situation has caused me to show way more interest in what is going on in this subreddit. Not saying WPE isn’t trying to put their thumb on the scale, but I think it’s more likely there’s more interest here than normal.
No loyalties to WPE; don’t even use them. However some of the trademark issues are very concerning; as the QuestAuthority lawyer pointed out, even devs who advertise that they work on WordPress sites need to keep an eye on this.
So now watching this sub closely to stay on top of things.
yes, really annoying
This is by far the worst Matt’s drama in the history of the project, with incredible legal and financial consequences for the whole industry, how is it surprising that people are paying attention?
These accusations now fly recurrently, and I think people have been plenty clear here that sentiment isn’t much pro-WPE, but very much anti-Matt at the moment.
As my comment will likely soon demonstrate, the problem is people aren’t following reddiquette and are simply downvoting anything they disagree with vs downvoting based on comments that don’t add to the discussion.
Doesn’t fit your opinion !== doesn’t add to the discussion.
I have been a long-time lurker and have only started paying attention and commenting recently because I’ve been invested (as a customer) in WPE since they were founded. I’ve left WPE for other hosts a couple of times, including to Pressable (which I do not recommend) and have returned to them.
However, with the lawsuits, I am currently weighing options. I am leaning towards Kinsta (again) or getting a good VPS with CloudFlare. It seems like all the “big” hosts are just reselling CloudFlare, so why not manage my own server with CloudFlare and cut out the middleman?
And – to be honest – even if this were true, I wouldn’t hold it against them. They may be rich and powerful, but their employees are passionate (at least the ones I’ve worked with) and they were extorted and attacked out of nowhere, by someone who previously didn’t seem like a douche to, well, me, at least.
What’s your evidence for this? WPE has been pretty busy the past week building a complete mirror of the repo and writing legal complaints to defend itself….
Astroturfing goes both ways. A couple of days ago there were WPEngine favorable posts being downvoted or straight up deleted. But generally, I feel most people are in the same camp: nobody cares about protecting WPEngine, but everyone cares about what Matt has done and continues doing.
My speculation, but I imagine people are downvoting out of suspicion suspicious that any anti-WPEngine post / comment is itself astroturf from the other direction, which in turn feeds into the cycle.
This whole situation is a mess. And at the end of the day, the only one responsible for putting everyone in this position through repeated escalation is Matt.
There is the usual anti-matt crowd that are siding with WPE.
There is the fan boys of WPE
No matter what WPE does, even the most satanic thing…..some people will just downvote anything negative aginst WPE because they didn’t get their way with Matt.
Like the anti-gutenberg crowd.
It was obvious from the start.
I’ve never used WPEngine and have always self-hosted WordPress when I’ve used it. I don’t have an opinion on the company one way or another.
However, I’ve been keeping a close eye on this drama, and r/WordPress has been a good place to keep apprised of the latest updates. I’m concerned by Mullenweg’s willingness to harm end users (together with his “look at what you made me do” messaging). Together with the complete lack of arm’s length between Automattic and the WordPress Foundation (and WordPress.org, which is apparently owned individually by Matt??), I’m very seriously considering moving away from WordPress entirely.
So I don’t think what you’re seeing is astroturfing. A lot of us who have used WordPress in some form or another, but don’t usually participate in the community, are now paying attention. WPEngine aside, I don’t like what I see from Mullenweg.
As someone who has used many hosting companies over the years, let me just preface by saying that I think a normal relationship with a host is mostly adversarial. They are offering a service, I pay them money, and if they don’t meet my expectations, I complain or move. In 15 years of hosting client sites, I’ve been on everything from HostGator to Pantheon and everything in between. So the idea of “defending” essentially a faceless vendor is just not in my genes.
Unfortunately, MM has acted so egregiously over the last month – borderline unstable at times – that it’s caused me to end up on the same side as the folks at WP Engine. I didn’t run over to their side – Matt’s actions pushed me over there.
So, the whole “WP Engine is astroturfing this sub” and “WP Engine is paying shills to defend them” response to the present situation is annoying. Isn’t it possible that people really don’t like how this has played out? And isn’t it possible that much of this rests at the feet of Matt?
If you don’t like the tenor of the present conversation, take a break and come back in a week. I’m sure the temperature will have been dialed back…unless Automattic’s lawyers can’t keep Matt from creating new exhibits for WP Engine.
I honestly also find WPE distasteful but Matt moreso. Haven’t worked on WordPress in ages but I’ve been hanging around more 🤷♀️ I’m not doing heavy downvoting but I know others are probably drawn in too.
IMO it’s waaaay more likely people have decided to pick a side and grab their pitchforks. We all want more control over our lives and to stop bad actors — it spills over during times like this IMO.
This isn’t it. But continue the conspiracy
I think the more simple answer is that people are drawn to drama and this is the most dramatic thing that’s happened to WP in years and of course that’s going to lead to a surge in people coming through. Not everything is a grand conspiracy.