Dear Matt,
I am tired. This is not the kind of tired that a good night’s sleep will solve. This kind of tired stems from having too much on my plate – both good and terrible. I started a new role at work that I am beyond excited about. (Good.) I am a single parent to an amazing 6 year-old. (Really good.) As for the terrible, they are personal things that I will only share privately.
This combination of good and terrible things take up my space, time, and energy. Actually, let me correct that. They take up all my space, time, and energy.
You are relevant to my professional space. My current professional life is linked to WordPress. I love WordPress. I love Gutenberg.1 I write plugins that live in Plugin Directory. Most of my presentations center around WordPress, be it developing blocks, writing accessible markup, or discussing the latest updates to Gutenberg. I have friends within the WordPress community – friends I otherwise would never have met. I even (somewhat accidentally) started the push within my current organization to migrate our 400+ sites from a different CMS into WordPress.
I have no regrets about my ties to WordPress. It is a solid system that I love creating with and developing for. You could even make the argument that I need WordPress.
What I do not need is for the leader of WordPress to go off the rails in some (seemingly personal) battle that has only succeeded in creating uncertainty and distrust in the larger WordPress community.
I appreciate the need to protect the WordPress name. I really do! I have had my own share of copyright issues. I have needed to send cease-and-desist letters to people selling my (otherwise free) written works. That is never fun.
However, there is a difference between defending your intellectual property and setting half the internet on fire.2 Prior to last month, I was never concerned about the future of WordPress. I never had a reason to be. Now, I do. This goes back to my space, time, and energy problem.
I should not have to make space in my life to worry about the damage being done to WordPress and our community. I should not have to spend time losing trust in a system that I have worked in for years. I should not have to spend energy watching a grown adult have more meltdowns than my literal child.3 I do not have the space, time, or energy for any of this.
I am tired. And angry. And extremely disappointed. This is not the behavior of a leader.
I expected better from you, and it is definitely time for a time out. Go sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done.
Sincerely,
An exhausted code mom
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Is liking Gutenberg still controversial? Whatever. I meant what I said. ↩
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I will not rehash the entire battle (to date). Some great resources on the subject already exist. I really like one resource in particular, but I am sure there are others. ↩
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My kid is great and, at 6, has far fewer meltdowns than she did at 3. However, she is a kid and the occasional meltdown is expected. I expect more emotional maturity from adults. ↩