Deconstructing Hyperbole and Misinformation: Use case WordPress Vs WP Engine/Silver lake Group llc.
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My Credentials (they’re not good but they’re something)
I know a little bit about WordPress as I’ve been using it for several years, I studied media at a university level and I am interested in law.
The Aim
To look at the factual inaccuracies being published, the hyperbole scare tactics and methods used by various websites that are either publishing factually incorrect statements because they have been misinformed or using scare tactics to undermine each participant potentially for their motives.
Time Line – anachronisms
I thought about my business before i registered a domain name. Once i registered my domain name i then went about continuing with the business idea that I had.
2000 wordpress.com is a registered url.
2003 wordpress.org is registered
2003 WordPress Blogging Platform comes into its existence under that name.
2005 Automattic company is Set Up.
2010 WordPress Foundation set up
Key to Terms
WordPress = The content management software (free and open source)
WordPress Foundation = Responsible for the management of WordPress – created in 2010
wordpress.org = The domain name of the Foundation that run and manage WordPress. Download WordPress from this domain address.
wordpress.com = A website domain name owned by the company Automatic
Automattic = A company whos founder and CEO is Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg = Co creater of the WordPress software in 2003 – Assigned control of WordPress to the WordPress Foundation in 2010.
Ongoing Article with revisions enabled.
I will keep updating and polishing this post as the words and evidence present themselves.
My (probably) Bias take on the cause
Like any conflict, I don’t think the manifestation happened overnight and would most likely have been occurring for a considerable time. Do I believe the co-founder of WordPress, frankly Yes. Do I have anything against WP Engine/Silverlake, No. This post is not about either of them per se but rather about everyone making the utterances on their behalf and that’s what we’re looking at. I will try to do my best to highlight those issues as I come across them.
The Video that started it all.
A video on YouTube from a channel called WebFX started me thinking about this after some seemingly innocuous factually incorrect statements were phrased. Specifically, comments made between 1:49 to 1:54 are transcribed below.
…it escalated to the point where WordPress eventually ended up removing plugin and theme updates and upgrades from WP Engines platform…
Transposed (mis) Information
That statement is factually incorrect but I can understand their confusion but I think the distinction is significant. WP Engine is a web host and like most web host interfaces with the WordPress servers. wordpress.org a non-profit foundation formed in 2010 pays for, maintains and hosts all the WordPress plugins and theme files?
WP-Engine connects to this server, which allows their customers’ plugins and themes to be automatically updated. WP engine does not host any files therefore nothing is removed from their platform. It is understood they could mirror the WordPress server, which would ensure their customers still receive automatic updates. However, they don’t (although I think that’s changed) but updates were always available to all WP engine customers; they just had to visit the WordPress repository directly.
HYPERBOLE 1: One and a half million websites were affected.
Ironically, one of the key features of WP Engines hosting is they have a staging service, so in normal circumstances if you’re tinkering with your website or if an updated plugin causes an unforeseen error or conflict it is contained within the staged version of the website, not the live front-facing website. Therefore, if the website was working before the WP Engines interface was prevented from accessing the wordress.org servers then it still would be all, updates or in the case lack of updates are more than likely staged first.
Additionally, any WP-engines customers were likely told* that any updates needed would need to be done manually. They would have to access the WordPress servers directly rather than via the WP Engine interface. So the inferred impact is exaggerated on two counts
*maybe not as I found out today that WP Engine charges customers $ 3 per month for updates. So they may have withheld that information from them.
Hyberbole 2: Using precedent to scaremonger
As WP-Engine are a hosting service like many other hosting services there has been a tendency to assume by association that other web hosts will be affected. I believe the co-founder of WordPress can only say publicly so many times that it’s isolated to WP-Engine/Silver lake. The Video below, I believe demonstrates the scaremongering well.
Straw Men – On with Theo
A tough watch and one which I think protracts the straw man argument for as long as possible and throws in scaremongering.
Temporary Conclusion & Opinion
I get the impression from most of the articles I’m reading/watching that there is a rhetoric of villain, victim and collateral victims. It is an easy stance to adopt if you are not prepared to listen to all the information. Sidenote I tried to tell someone about some engineered conflict in my life once but their own experiences took over and they made up their mind before all the information was presented. I’d be weary of anyone telling you to dump WordPress or WP engine for that matter. Their motive might only be in their best interests.
For anyone interested I provide webhosting!…that’s a joke!
The Fridge Analogy – Who is at fault (thought exercise)
Imagine you work for a large organisation one of your colleagues has a nice sideline selling cans of pop at lunchtime to staff frequenting the building. They acquire the cans of drink legally as they have a friend who is getting them at wholesale price. This ostensibly provides a nice service for some of the busy workers in that workplace and they are turning a nice profit to boot, no one getting hurt that’s just a business opportunity. New staff members even assume or are being told that it is part of the organisation’s structure.
Soon the fridge at work begins to get full and it starts impacting the staff who just want their lunch stored; there are other breakout rooms and fridges within the organisation. It even appears that other staff in the surrounding buildings also started to use the services of the entrepreneurial drinks vendor.
The entrepreneurial drinks vendor does their 40 hours a week and maintains a working relationship but the focus is shifting heavily to very profitable drinks sales. This sideline attracts the attention of other outside organisations who have seen the profit figures so they buy the now-established sideline.
At this stage, its arguable that the damage is done. The whole enterprise has occurred organically and there is nothing malicious here. The employer/owner of the building and fridges ect is demonstrably a very busy person but can not ignore this and sees potential legal issues that can no longer be plausibly denied as occurring if this is continued. Imagine if the delivery of fizzy drinks caused an accident, who would be held liable? However, rather than chastise they decide to absorb that enterprise to buy more fridges and absorb some legal responsibility.
But wait, the industrious entrepreneur who sold the sideline is no longer calling the shots. They have to meet with their owner and the organisation that houses the fridges, electricity, storage, location, customer base etc.
There is back and forth and delays in multi-tiered communications and the organisation that owns the sideline and multiple other sidelines ultimately refuses to provide any additional fridges or resources to purchase more fridges or aid with running costs.
Action – Company-wide email – Breakout room changes.
The fridge in break out room 1 will be switched off as we are experiencing issues with its use. Please ensure all staff use the fridges available in the other break-out areas until this matter is resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Pillow talk from Fridge gate
Some people due to human nature are well miffed at the inconvenience of the fridge being switched off. They even begin to tell their significant other and friends. “I’ve now got to get up and walk the entire office to use the fridge in the other breakout room” I don’t see why I’m being punished because of what Joe Bloggs was up to with his drinks sales. Sounds like the greedy boss wanted a cut and Joe wouldn’t give it to him, now I can’t get a drink from Joe until he adds his own fridge, and there was no toilet paper in cubicle two today. I had to call housekeeping to get them to sort it”.
“That’s awful darling I will get that out on all social media, it sounds like your human rights are being violated, imagine not having the decency to provide enough toilet paper, err he’s a monster and no fridge, how are you going to eat? Ugh, something must be done!”
Breaking News – Fridges used to store excrement!
“It is understood, due to various media posts, that bosses at an organisation have retaliated against employees storing too many drinks in the company fridges by filling them with excrement. This is, of course, abhorrent and I will not stand for the person I love to be abused in this way. This is indicative of the greed of this boss not getting his way. Click my subscribe button for more updates”.
Of course, where it gets tricky is some people for whatever reason will put some excrement in the fridge.
Fun “fact”. Apparently, at one place I worked someone did a dump in the waste bin after a load of redundancies were made. Don’t know if it’s true but that’s the rumour that was circulated.
Questions & Comments
Interesting comments here. It appears that WP-engine charges their customers $3 per month for updates
More Evidence of Mis-information
A well written piece from a website called Medium that does not panic too much but again falls foul to what I understand to the be the jigsaw or mis-information which adds to peoples confusion. He makes reference to the co-founder of WordPress and the WordPress foundation as if they are one in the same specifically
…so using Mullenweg’s server is not necessary, and WPE has worked around the fact that they can no longer access Mullenweg’s plugin distribution server directly..
siting wordpress.org as “mullenwegs servers” sic. However, the legal distinction is that in 2010 the WordPress foundation was set up which ensured free access, in perpetuity to the software. Matt Mullenweg is of course a led developer within wordpress.org as this is his lives work but the foundation was set up to ensure continued free access and protect the trademark. If he goes or his companies get sold wordpress.org will still be open source software.
HR Grapevine Inaccuracies
In this article, HR Grapevine demonstrates two significant inaccuracies.
Firstly, they substitute WordPress (the content management system) with the domain name wordpress.com. i.e.This is like calling the spreadsheet software Excel by the name of Excel.com.
Secondly from that confusion, they associate Automattic, a commercial company that owns the wordpress.com domain name, with the WordPress Foundation run from wordpress.org.
Joshcollinsworth – Making it Personal
My First reading of Josh Collinsworth’s post
https://joshcollinsworth.com/blog/fire-matt
