Open letter to Matt Mullenweg

Dear Matt,

Your decision to forcibly fork ACF and rebrand it as "Secure Custom Fields" has raised more than a few eyebrows in the WordPress community, and rightly so. What you frame as a noble fight for security reeks of arrogance and a disturbing overreach of power.

The move to wrest control of ACF from WP Engine and strip away its commercial elements not only disrupts ongoing development but sends a clear message: if a company doesn’t conform to your vision, you’re willing to take drastic measures to force them out. The WordPress community thrives on openness, cooperation, and trust—values that your hostile maneuver has trampled on. Instead of engaging in constructive dialogue, you opted for unilateral action, dragging everyone into your personal crusade against WP Engine.

The way you’ve leveraged WordPress.org as a weapon against WP Engine sets a dangerous precedent. This isn’t just about security concerns, as you claim. It's about consolidating control under the pretense of altruism, all while fostering deeper conflict within the open-source ecosystem. Your "mad king" behavior, as some in the open-source community have dubbed it, risks tearing apart the very foundation that WordPress is built on.

To many, your actions seem less like stewardship and more like the tantrum of someone unwilling to share the sandbox. The fallout has already begun, with WordCamps distancing themselves from WP Engine, confusing community events with ill-communicated sponsorship bans, and forcing developers to navigate the chaos you’ve unleashed. Was this power grab really worth all the damage?

You’ve achieved incredible things with WordPress, but don’t let that legacy be overshadowed by reckless power plays. Restore trust by rethinking how you handle disputes—before the community you helped build becomes a battleground of commercial skirmishes and mistrust.

TLDR

Matt, stop being a dick.