Captain Rhodes

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@kellie At the end of 2022, they had $210K cash on hand - you can find it on the balance sheet of the 990 (Part X - Line 1).

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@DuaneStorey I don't see her listed as a designated officer of WordPress Foundation on their 990 from 2022, but who knows if she's an officer now. It's not listed on her LinkedIn profile, and you'd think that would be something you'd put on your public CV.

Governance issues just piling up.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@ryancduff Essentially, the idea is to shakedown the entirety of the WP ecosystem like they did WP Engine. They said their beef was only with WP Engine, but again, they lied about that.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@ryantownley @photomatt @wpengine This was never about contributing. It was about MM/Automattic extorting a competitor.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@johnbillion @intigriti They've patched ACF: https://t.co/wI9skUzHTB

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@photomatt @davidkfry @dpacmittal @automattic 8% of the gross revenues of Automattic.

[Kellie Peterson @kellie]

I've been very demure, very mindful until this week when I shared some thoughts. I made someone big mad.

#WordPress #wpdrama

https://t.co/UTRSQUEMS3

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@mikejulian @ryancduff

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@ryancduff @mikejulian Are we sure Neil Peretz exists? Are we sure it's not just Matt Mullenweg in a fedora?

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@DuaneStorey @Xypheric Matt's going through it over on Hacker News and doesn't have a great answer for this setup because, well, it was clearly created to keep the most valuable asset (the commercial license) in his for-profit company but outwardly tell the world Automattic had "given up control."

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@DuaneStorey @Xypheric I've been right there with you. Haha.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@Xypheric But in transferring the commercial rights back to Automattic right away, WPF only kept non-commercial rights in the exchange, which have much less financial value. So I ask...what value did WPF actually gain in this transaction?

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@Xypheric Yes, they are suggesting there was no consideration, and Automattic's counsel argues today that "for the licensing of the commercial use of the WordPress marks to Automattic, the consideration was Automattic turning over the entire trademarks to the WordPress Foundation."

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@asmartbear What a mess you guys have been dragged into - from top to bottom. I feel it for the support team who probably had to field numerous inquiries from customers over the last week. The complaint was thorough and direct. I hope everyone gives it a read. Good luck and all the best.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@sereedmedia My favorite part is that this article was written to clear up the trademark conversation. But the folks commenting critically for the last few days have understood it completely. I'm not sure what they were trying to accomplish here.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@DustinSnider @photomatt @rmccue Thank you for clearly stating this. He clearly doesn't understand how non-profit 501c3 organizations work...probably because his only existed to launder the trademark back to Automattic for private inurement.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@DustinSnider You are correct. There are plenty of examples of open-source project non-profits hosting repositories for plugins/themes/tools that are made by for-profit companies and offer premium features for a price after the fact. You just can't show bias to one developer over another.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@cdils @ozskier @tomfinley When Automattic donated the trademark to WPF, the board of WPF turned around and granted Automattic an "exclusive, fully-paid, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable right and license" to the trademark. So Automattic dictates the terms.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@VinylBargainBin @ryancduff .org only belongs to Matt. It is not part of WPF or Automattic.

[Captain Rhodes @mrvotto]

@geekGoneRogue @automattic @photomatt @WordPress @fsf He won't do that because it's his perceived instrument for extorting millions of dollars from competitors to line Automattic's pockets. I'd love to see what fair market value Automattic provided WPF for that license.