Matt Mullenweg, WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO, stepped in last week to reverse core committers on a contentious change for WordPress 7.0. He directed the team to register Automattic’s Akismet anti-spam plugin on the new Connectors screen. This overruled a revert that had removed it days earlier. The move, detailed in The Repository, highlights deepening tensions over process, contributions, and Automattic’s role in the open-source project.
A Trac ticket opened on April 1 by Automattic-sponsored committer Jorge Costa. It proposed adding Akismet as a default connector. Committed just 36 minutes later. No public discussion. Peter Wilson, a Fueled-sponsored core committer, filed a revert pull request the same day. He argued Akismet should use the standard plugin API for registration. Warned of potential duplicates on the screen.
The revert landed April 5. But Mullenweg, as release lead, had the final say. “I did say that, and have changed my mind and we’re doing this,” he wrote on Trac ticket #65012. Boom. Decision made.
Why the fight? The Connectors screen debuts in WordPress 7.0. It lists spots for AI providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Even before activation. Akismet would join them. A discovery tool, Costa said. Users could activate and enter keys right there. No need to hunt the plugins page first. Consistent with AI handling, he argued.
Committers pushed back hard. Jonathan Desrosiers questioned inactive plugins cluttering the screen. John Blackbourn called late RC changes without discussion inappropriate. Aaron Jorbin wanted guidelines before more connectors. Wilson noted Mullenweg once advocated plugins handle their own keys. Position reversed.
Developer Earle Davies lit the fuse April 3. Posted the ticket in Slack’s #core channel. Tagged Mullenweg, release lead Matias Ventura, and Automattic’s Mary Hubbard. “Anyone can contribute. But that doesn’t mean their issue/PR won’t sit there for years before being merged,” Davies wrote. “Meanwhile a trac item got created by an a8c employee and merged during an RC with 0 public discussion.”
Mullenweg responded after WordCamp Asia. In #core-committers Slack. Furious. Called the Akismet block an “existential moral crisis.” A microcosm of project failures. “Core committers had treated Akismet’s inclusion as ‘an existential moral crisis we need to draw a line in the sand and say THOU SHALL NOT PASS.’” He blasted the culture: “a microcosm of all the ways we’ve undone everything that made us successful, made contribution incredibly painful, and end up shipping boring or mediocre crap.”
Akismet’s pedigree? Bundled in core for 20 years. Blocked 569,403,129,437 spams. Mostly free. Honor-system business. “If you would like to build a hosted SaaS service doing sophisticated adversarial operations serving thousands of requests a minute for no charge and with a business model that is basically the honor system, please go do it and come back in 20 years and I’ll put your plugin in,” Mullenweg challenged.
“It is pathological that we keep attacking me and Automattic who have by any measure given the most.” Embarrassment all around, he said. For ignoring such gifts.
This isn’t isolated. In a related Slack thread covered by The Repository, Mullenweg lamented the project’s state. “I am very sad at the state we’ve gotten ourselves in on WordPress and WordPress.org.” Self-sabotage through process creep. Endless Slack debates. Consensus paralysis. The AI Connectors screen? Barely functional. A blank page with buttons. Took forever. Meanwhile, Cloudflare shipped EmDash—a full CMS—in two months.
Tying back: He wanted Akismet and Jetpack there to make the screen useful. Proof of bigger woes. 8,094 open Trac tickets. Theme reviews killing innovation. Rejected block themes. Would Elementor pass today? Gutenberg’s foe crushed early?
WordPress 7.0? Delayed. Originally eyed for April 9. Now pending. Release team paused for real-time collaboration table design, per The Repository. Update expected by April 22. Connectors ship anyway. Non-AI policy deferred to 7.1.
Community buzzes. Hacker News thread on the story (HN discussion) dissects governance. Users decry Automattic dominance. One notes: dev disagreement on promoting company plugin in core carousel. Echoes past dramas—2024 WP Engine feud. Mullenweg banned them from resources. Seized ACF plugin. Lawsuits flew. Trust eroded.
On X, reactions simmer. Christopher Smith posted the article with: “But, why don’t people want to contribute?!?!” Joost de Valk critiques priorities amid delays. Japanese dev @columuni flags top-down favoritism.
So where’s the line? Open source thrives on merit. But leaders decide. Mullenweg wields release lead power. Committers guard process. Akismet stays—for now. Users get easy spam defense. At what cost to harmony?
Bigger picture. WordPress powers 43% of the web. Automattic funds much. But resentment brews. Committers from rivals like Fueled push back. Davies demands: “You’re leadership, do better than this.”
Mullenweg vows fixes. “The only bomb is what we’ve been doing the last few years. And yes it’s my fault, and I’m going to fix it.” Tweeted April 14.
Watch 7.0 drop. Connectors live. Akismet prominent. Debate far from over.
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