DiscoverChaos Lever PodcastCan WordPress Be Saved from Its Creator? | Chaos Lever
Can WordPress Be Saved from Its Creator? | Chaos Lever

Can WordPress Be Saved from Its Creator? | Chaos Lever

Update: 2025-06-12
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🔥 The world may be on fire, but at least we’ve got s’mores and dark chocolate (just not 98% cacao, thank you). In this episode, we dunk on tech billionaires with the finesse of a flaming marshmallow and explore the dramatic saga of WordPress—from its humble GPL beginnings to the ego-fueled chaos of its current overlord. Yes, Matt Mullenweg, we’re talking about you.

🧩 We dive into how WordPress became the most-used CMS in the world, why Matt Mullenweg keeps lighting metaphorical fires, and what the Linux Foundation is doing to put out the flames. Spoiler alert: it involves decentralizing plugin updates so Matt can’t go full dictator mode again. Also, there's jazz. Because apparently that’s part of the lore.

🤡 There’s a feud with WP Engine, a cease and desist, plugin repos being snatched like toys at daycare, and even a checkbox to swear fealty before accessing your plugins. Welcome to the snark-fueled, historically grounded meltdown that is modern open source governance. Or, as we like to call it: Thursday.

📎 LINKS
Weblog - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
WordPress Drama Explained - https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/12/wordpress-vs-wp-engine-drama-explained/
Matt Makes Cancer Claim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnI-QcVSwMU
Matt Mullenweg Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Mullenweg
WordPress Org Chart - https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/organization/
WordPress Book - https://wordpress.org/book/table-of-contents/
WordPress Foundation - https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/

  • (00:00 ) - Intro and Marshmallow Prep

  • (03:27 ) - The Billionaire Baby Theory

  • (06:00 ) - History of WordPress

  • (13:17 ) - What Even is GPL?

  • (20:41 ) - The Naming Confusion of WordPress

  • (27:02 ) - Matt vs WP Engine

  • (35:03 ) - Enter the Linux Foundation

  • (38:00 ) - Outro and WordPress Alternatives


Click here to view the episode transcript.
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Can WordPress Be Saved from Its Creator? | Chaos Lever

Can WordPress Be Saved from Its Creator? | Chaos Lever

Ned Bellavance and Chris Hayner