WordPress-less
Earlier today I unsubscribed from all the WordPress mailing lists. I've terminated my dircproxy sitting in #wordpress. I've just now sent a note to Matt asking him to revoke my forum and trac privileges.
I still think that WordPress is a pretty groovy piece of software; but I don't like the power structure behind that software. I've stated publicly that I don't see a lot of leadership from Matt; and that I disagree not only with many of the decisions, but how they're made. Matt's reply didn't really address many of the issues I raised, which is pretty typical from him; and is no small part of my frustration. Despite his claim that "this
discussion is important to have," there's been no follow-up since his jaunt to SXSW. I can only infer that this means that substantive changes are unlikely to occur.
WordPress hasn't been much fun for me, lately. When things stop being fun, it's time to reconsider your involvement with them. So as of right now, I'm no longer a WordPress hacker. No longer a plugin author. I'm just a lowly user, at the whim of wherever AutocraticAutomattic takes things.
Skippy,
You were what's left of the heart and soul of the behind the scenes of WordPress. I'm heartbroken.
Hang in there, take a break, do what you got to do, but don't totally walk away. Breath some fresh, and I mean FRESH air for a while and don't cut all ties, my friend. WE, and I mean all the other little people who thrive on what makes WordPress great, not the masters behind the scenes, NEED YOU.
Do what you have to do, but give this some time before you totally walk away. I need you.
Lorelle
Oh, that's really unfortunate. Your plugins are the bee's knees. I'm sorry to see it come to this.
Skippy,
This is very troubling to me. I know it's painful trying to work your way into an established power/ego community. It's no fun being marginalized, especially when your concerns have merit.
At the same time, it was really stunning to witness your public complaint about Matt. This really should not have occurred in a public forum. Even in the open source world, I think you need to have patience with, and give due deferrence to, project leaders. This is their baby you're handling. It can take a long time to win their trust and acceptance; and this, unfortunately, often has little to do with the merit or quality of your contributions.
Bob
Bob: you're right that these things take time. In the open source community, things usually run as a meritocracy: the best code wins. I'm okay with that, and I'm comfortable with the fact that I don't write the best code.
My concerns -- and the motivation for leaving the WordPress development efforts for the time being -- have little to do with code, specifically. Moreover, my beef isn't against Matt as a person. As I said in my post to the mailing list, I don't know him. I'm sure we'd get along just fine over a few pints. My concerns are about the current lack of leadership, and the way the project -- and community -- is being managed. To me, a public discussion of these issues is the only way to truly pursue a positive change. Closed-door meetings, and private emails, lack the necessary transparency.
You're right that WordPress is Matt's baby, and he's free to run it as he sees fit. There is a long history of complaints about the way things are being run, though; and I'm not the first person to walk away. I have a list of opinions about things that I think would make the project a better, more inviting, and more successful endeavour. If I felt that sharing this list would produce tangible benefits, I would share it. Obviously, it's my opinion that sharing this list would not be well received.
Wow. That really, really sucks - seeing you go. But then again, if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. I share a lot of your views that you posted - well, except for "My views are clearly in the minority." I guess this is just me thanking you for all of your contributions to the WordPress community. I hope to see your face pop into #wordpress again someday.
tony
Skippy, whilst i have only been in the wp - comunity for a breife peiod of time, you have been a lot of help to people and i hope that this isent a long haitus.
Skippy,
Does the license allow you to fork the software into a new title and manage the title the way you think it should be managed?
I'm seeing from the posts that a lot of people don't want to see you leave. Maybe there is opportunity here.
Also, let me reiterate that I understand very well why you left the project and why you felt marginalized. I just think it's generally couterproductive to point out the shortcomings of a project participant in a public forum, even if your observations are true. I'd characterize it as a flame under almost any circumstance. We can take this discussion off-line if you wish (or I will shut the hell up if you wish!).
Bob
Skippy,
I think it's a great loss to WordPress that you are hanging up your keyboard but I have to give you credit for the reasons why you've walked away from it.
Sometimes projects need a breath of fresh air, unfortunately those closest to the project fail to see this far too often!
I'd just like to say a HUGE thanks for the fantastic plugins you've produced.
Matt
While I can't begin to claim that my contributions are in any way on the level of yours, I understand exactly how you feel. I'm sure the coding bug will bite you somewhere and you'll help make something else better as you've done with WP. Best of luck,, from someonw who, by way of your (and others') encouragement leaned much about PHP and MySQL.
Thank you.
I am simply a thankful beneficiary of some of the wonderful products the open source community has produced, including WordPress. I have always been fascinated that so many different people working on a project can put out ever-improving pieces of software. It has often been my experience that, regardless of how democratic, or meritocratic (is that even a word?), a team effort is, there will always be, must always be, a small group or even a single person making the final decisions. That fact usually ends up frustrating everyone at one time or another, and some more than others.
It seems to me the Skippy is a very talented and passionate member of the open source community, and I have no doubt the WP project will miss his contributions. Still, who knows what may lie on the horizon? Often a break is all one needs to be reinvigorated.
You really need to make a breath. If you have been addicted to WP development and hacking this software, then you will return back or may be just take another breath and make a good competetive software ;)
It's a pity, but I totally understand the motivation. Despite Matt's (and other folks') repeated assurance that they are very accepting of contributions, it simply doesn't seem to be the case. I'm used to projects that are 100% community driven, and find the "benevolent dictator" model to be somewhat baffling. I know it's a very prevalent model, but it just doesn't work with my view of meritocracy. I guess Apache has really spoiled me.
Anyways, there have been numerous folks that have said that a fork was a possible way to go. I simply lack the passion to do that, but would certainly be willing to contribute if one happened.
Blogging is a technology/movement/idea that is still in its infancy, and I'm excited to see where folks will take it in the next 10 years. I would really like to see ideas form the way that the software goes, rather than having the path of the software constrain the ideas.
Bob: sorry for the delay in replying. I'm not going to tell you to shut up -- your observations are valid. I don't consider my comments to have been flames, but rather vigorous public discussion about things related to the health of the project. See the Debian Project Leader election process for more examples of the same.
(Besides, what's the point of having a blog if one can't use it as a soapbox for hysterical foaming-at-the-mouth ranting, every now and again?!)
WordPress is GPL, and as such is completely forkable. Indeed, SteamPress is one such example, and I've been contemplating getting involved with it.
I don't think I'd make a good project manager, which is why I'm unlikely to take on the burden of a fork at this time. I also know that I'm not a sufficiently talented programmer to be able to drive development in any meaningful way while awaiting contributions from new participants.
Moreover, there's enough cruft in the WordPress code that it would be a better long-term decision to start from scratch and import those WordPress bits that work well, than to try to remove from WordPress the bits one doesn't want.
Finally, I've been realizing that the way I use my site is not entirely in line with the way the WordPress development process expects a blog to be used. I think I may need to write a full post about this, as it's a reasonably complex realization on my part.
Thanks, everyone, for the kinds words of support. They -- and the community of peers with which I've participated in my time with WordPress -- mean a lot to me!
I, like mumbles, haven't been a part of the community for very long, but I've had a few, interesting conversations with you in #wordpress, and I'm sad to see you go.
I wish you best of luck in the future - and I hope to see you pop in once in a while.
Cheers,
MenZa
say it ain't so skip. say it ain't so.
Wow. Tony just showed me this and I'm in shock. Skippy, I know we've both been through tough times, but I am quite sad to see you go. You're a quality guy, a quality supporter, and you always have innovative ideas. You will be missed in our community. I hope, one day, you reconsider to join us again. I wish you the best with your new ventures, but none-the-less, you will be missed. Thank you for everything you have done for the WP community.
yeah, I would tend to agree that WordPress needs more involvement by the top janitors. I've been following the Gallery project since I started using WordPress, and the development model and involvement is very different. very well organized with weekly IRC meetings that are documented for later reference, code reviews, et al. just spend a week at their IRC channel, #gallery and you'll see. :)
I'm a lowly WordPress & Gallery user also. but I suppose not all open-source projects are created equally, with varying priorities & development model processes. imho, there are those that spend most of their time promoting the product, and those that work (and collaborate with other code contributors) to continually improve it. just my take. :)
Skippy,
Speaking as SteamPress project manager all I can tell you is we'd be lucky if you got involved.
Incidentally, we just finished tagging SteamPress 0.7.
I have to agree with you here. I really wish WordPress' future was decided by the community at large and such, but instead it seems to just be a project by one or two people who have really the only say rather than just steering it in a good direction.
It's a shame as I think WordPress is much worse off as a result.
[...] …seems to be mounting among third party devs whose plug-ins I use and really like. Examples are Skippy and drDave. And some guys have forked the WP codebase and established SteamPress, now Cronolith. Not sure where this all is heading. [...]
This is a comment for the Subscribe plugin (for some reason i cannot leave a comment on the subscribe plugin post... :-( ). My concern is that i'm affraid the hash in the confirm link sent by mail is never tested in your code. What is the point of having the email adress hashed in the link if it is never checked?? Is that a bug?
Ooops! Sorry Skippy, i should have read this post before posting the previous comment!! I feel exactly the same as you do about wordpress and went the same way from a happy hacker to a resigned low-end user. I'm actually writing my own blogging software, which takes lot of time but is more fun that grappling with the spaghetti code of wordpress. Cheers!
[...] Interesting how I wrote this before seeing my concerns echoed here and here...yeah it's all internal politics, and I still thing Wordpress is the best tool around (better than Livejournal apart from the social side and 'friends' postings) but the commercial side to Wordpress worries me...and I see of this reflected on a bigger scale in the current 'Web 2.0' VC feeding fest. The whole "Web 2.0 make money for someone else for it to either do an Enron or sting you" feeling is all too familiar from the first web bubble. Thing is then I was an idealistic kid...but maybe that's for another post. Especially including Podshow+ aping like Myspace... [...]
Even in walking away from the project, you make an awesome contribution by sharing your perspective here.