When we sold Yoast to Newfold in 2021, I quickly learned we had been incredibly naive. While at Yoast, I hadn’t realized how many deals were made between big companies to promote their products. This was my first realization that not all companies thought and worked like we had been doing. I did learn a lot from the way Newfold Digital runs its businesses. Positive things!
But I remember the way I felt back in 2021 so well. I was so disappointed in the community, these large WP businesses, and even the world. And I don’t want to presume that everyone is as naive as I was, but I think there’s a big gap between the community and the ‘big WordPress companies’. It is very hard for community members to understand why these companies are making so much money and are still fighting. So why is that? And is there a solution?
Inequality in information
There’s nothing wrong with making business deals to promote each other’s stuff. However, most members of our community (including me up until 2021) are not aware of those deals. There’s inequality in information, which makes it hard for community members to understand the decisions that big companies make — decisions concerning contributing to WordPress, for example. If we were more transparent about how money flows, it would be a little bit easier to understand.
Different objectives
Corporations that make hundreds of millions of dollars have different objectives than individuals and small businesses working in the community. These corporations have shareholders and other stakeholders, and those stakeholders want to make money. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, many people in the WordPress community are driven by completely different objectives. They tend to be excited about open source, they want to make a better product or they want to organize an event for our amazing community. When we became part of Newfold Digital, I noticed the difference in objectives. All of a sudden, it became so very clear to us. I know now that I am just driven by different objectives: both Marieke and I don’t get excited about only making more money.
Inequality in compensation
Differences in objectives and inequality in information lead to very big differences in the amount of money that people make from WordPress. On the one hand, there are people who are in the community, volunteering their help and organizing events. In many cases, these people aren’t even compensated for their hours. On the other hand, there are people who are working on the boards of very large companies with very large salaries.
The people who make the most money in WordPress are not the people who contribute the most (Matt / Automattic really is one of the exceptions here, as I think we are). And this is a problem. It’s a moral problem. It’s just not equitable.
I agree with Matt about his opinion that a big hosting company such as WPEngine should contribute more. It is the right thing to do. It’s fair. It will make the WordPress community more egalitarian. Otherwise, it will lead to resentment. I’ve experienced that too.
At Yoast, we contributed many many hours. During the first years of the Gutenberg project, our revenue growth dropped because we couldn’t develop new features for our product due to contributing so much to core. But we still made a lot of money. So, I didn’t really have a reason to complain, did I?
At the same time, we were annoyed that other companies – much bigger than we were at the time – did not participate as much. We felt we were helping them get bigger while our growth stayed behind. I truly do understand where Matt is coming from.
Solution: transparency & governance
So I agree with Matt that big WordPress companies should have to contribute — preferably a lot, just like Automattic and some others do. But I would like to do that more openly: let everybody see how the money flows.
Currently the way it works is that the money for trademark deals flows to Automattic, but we don’t know how much of the contributions Automattic does are paid for by Newfold, whom we now all know are paying for the use of the trademark. Maybe the money should go directly into the foundation? If not, I think we should at least see how many of the hours contributed by Automattic are actually contributed by Newfold.
No taxation without representation
If we require everyone to contribute, we can call that taxation. It’s not as bad a word to me as to some other people, I think, but I do know that with taxation should also come representation.
In my opinion, we all should get a say in how we spend those contributions. I understand that core contributors are very important, but so are the organizers of our (flagship) events, the leadership of hosting companies, etc. We need to find a way to have a group of people who represent the community and the contributing corporations.
Just like in a democracy. Because, after all, isn’t WordPress all about democratizing?
Now I don’t mean to say that Matt should no longer be project leader. I just think that we should more transparently discuss with a “board” of some sorts, about the roadmap and the future of WordPress as many people and companies depend on it. I think this could actually help Matt, as I do understand that it’s very lonely at the top.
With such a group, we could also discuss how to better highlight companies that are contributing and how to encourage others to do so.
Parting thoughts
This is quite a long post. This week has been rough. But as I blog this, I also realize that I’m very thankful for what WordPress has brought me, and all the friendships I’ve been able to create because of it. I want to thank everyone whom I’ve been discussing this with the last few days for all their insights and for taking the time to talk to me and help me find my bearings on this rough sea. I also want to thank my wife Marieke, who is just the very best, and helped me put these words together.
