Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress.org content management system and CEO of Automattic, ended a successful WordCamp USA conference with a poorly received keynote that sharply criticized a prominent managed WordPress web host. The overwhelming response was negative toward his statements and a subsequent blog post that continued his combative remarks.
The response on social media to his speech and blog post was so immense that at one point “WordPress” was the number one trending topic on X (formerly Twitter).
What Happened
WordPress is built on the idea of a worldwide community working together to create an open source system for publishing ideas. It is responsible for the creation of perhaps millions of jobs, enabled countless ecommerce companies to sell online and created multiple markets and services that would not otherwise exist, all of it built on the idea of community.
WordCamp is the physical manifestation of the WordPress community, a conference …