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The website linked in the article appears to not be _the_ website (to be fair, tfa only calls it _a_ website). The website actually hosted by JPM is very sparse, but even mentions that such unofficial websites exist.

https://www.jpmorgan.com/about-us/events-conferences/health-...

(tfa is a fun read, regardless)


> legally worded takedown email

Yes, there are legal words in there, but it just seems like hand waving towards a few _potentially_ applicable laws or class of law. Why would Tea respond to this, let alone take action?

Also, erm, gotouted is an interesting name to use to promote your service that makes claims of libel/slander.


It was that good?


What was the answer?

I can understand why it might seem suspicious, but I’d also hope that (non-exotic?) substances capable of killing at doses small enough to fit in a Tylenol pill would be in their test matrix.


Cyanide is really simple and can easily be a side product of many organic chemistry reactions, testing for it is just obvious. The ion is just one carbon and one nitrogen which can combine with many different things to make many poisonous salts. Testing for it isn't suspicious and there was very strong evidence that it wasn't a factory mistake.


> The Paycheck Protection Program, for small businesses affected by the pandemic, helped keep us afloat.

In the grand scheme of PPP shenanigans it’s nothing, but how was an online-only _news_ website negatively impacted by perhaps the most globally relevant, urgent, and ongoing news story of the internet age?


Ad spending got put on hold or canceled during the covid recession. Companies in all sectors moved to conserve cash.

Even Google froze hiring.

It was a good time to have a conservative balance sheet. I bought some good stock on the cheap, and hired my best programmer.


> and hired my best programmer.

And they're still around? Or moved on when hiring defroze again, to get a non covid salary?


Not especially surprising, but there’s an awfully large elephant in the room that likely directly contributed to this necessity that goes completely unmentioned.


Matt's only real problem is not owning his ambition openly.

Trying to publicly argue the moral high ground was a stupid, unforced error.

It didn't need to be moralized at all. Just make the changes you want to make, piss off a vocal minority, then get back to winning and making boatloads of money by executing exceptionally.

The problem, I suspect, is that Matt values how certain people perceive him more than he values winning. It's unfortunate, because he's clearly a very good executer and strategist. He's getting in his own way.


> he's clearly a very good executer and strategist. He's getting in his own way.

Apparently not. I'd argue he was perceived as such but has thoroughly proven the opposite by now. There were so many stations to get off the train.


Automattic is a $7b+ company. That's the twenty-year body of work you should use to evaluate his execution and strategy.


IMHO moralizing wasn't really the problem.

The extremely erratic behavior, the ego, the fixation with vengeance, harassing organizations legally using the Wordpress name, abusing his power at the wordpress foundation, using it to punish Automattic competitors...

He pissed off a lot of people, but worse: he made a lot of people nervous.


Ignore the financial valuations, man is a worm. I'd call him a 'hack' but that might imply talents given where we are.

Through his shitshow, he tried - and failed - to curry favor with an OSS puppet. Not any particular software... like one might think, but the whole "thing".

There was never any moment where WPEngine was beholden for offering WordPress services. Everything was strained to the point he was trying to redefine OSS.

He got in his way, ours as members of the public, and that of WPEngine. Repeatedly... and I don't see enough reflection/reason from Matt to believe this will change. Personally, I'd hesitate to promote his strategies or skills.

Hamfisted is a better message. Or none, take the wind away. We don't want his ambition or to hear about it. It's demonstrably shit.

Edit: just in case this needs saying, I've never been affiliated with either company. Don't waste your limited time looking for me, Matt.


If more people valued how others perceive them more than they valued winning, the world would be a better place.


He should care principally about his customers. That's it.


Drupal's sudden popularity?


Is the elephant in the room with us now? (Mind filling in?)


The legal threats against WPEngine and their customers, the lawsuits between WP/Automatic/WPF and WPEngine, the banning of several contributors, the takeover of WP Plugins on WP.org, the shenanigans with several check boxes on the login pages of WP.org.


While it wasn't as damaging from a legal or (business) reputational perspective, he also peeked into the Tumblr database in order to doxx people who were making fun of him, which doesn't say great things about his stability or fitness to run a company.



Holy moly.

I never heard of this drama before.

This was crazy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WPDrama/comments/1hlp08d/what_drama...


That was wild.



the author of that email has been having a very public breakdown for months now, mostly consisting of being a prick and trying to harm the community and a competitor.


Matt Mullenweg is the elephant.


Since Matt regularly comments here, and given the expression chosen; I'm pretty certain that they know who the elephant is.


His account has been inactive for almost all of 2025, I think his legal team must have taken away the password.


He has alts he uses that are probably still active.


Matt commenting here was part of the reason he is in the mess he is in.


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