Let's talk about red flags for a moment.
I have seen many over the course of my career. One in particular that comes to mind is an interview I had several years ago. The interview was with a larger organization who was hiring for several open developer positions. As I walked into the office, I saw a flurry of people going here and there. One escorted me to an office, where I waited until a very hurried individual came in. She introduced herself as the hiring manager and announced that she did not really have time to interview me. After rushing through a few questions, she left. I showed myself out.
I got the job.
I rejected the job.
I said no because that level of chaos and disorganization screamed at me to run far away. Everything about that interview felt unstable, and I knew that was not an environment I wanted to be a part of.
I feel the same way about WordPress today. I have been watching the drama between WordPress and WPEngine unfold over the last several months with a combination of concern and bewilderment.
I won't recap all of the pieces of this drama, but one of the weirder pieces was the "alliance" login checkbox, where users had to pledge that they were not affiliated with WPEngine in order to log into WordPress.org.
Today I (and the rest of the WordPress community) discovered that WordPress took down that checkbox (as ordered by a judge), and replaced it with a new checkbox. Now, users need to assert that "pineapple is delicious on pizza."
If this does not scream instability, I don't know what does.
Ignoring the fact that I cannot stand pineapple on pizza (please don't @ me), this is the biggest and most public red flag I have ever seen. And I am more concerned and bewildered than I was before.