Yoast Co-Founder Calls For WordPress Leadership Change

Joost de Valk, co-founder of the Yoast SEO plugin, has called for a change in WordPress governance that removes Mullenweg as the sole decision-maker, offering to lead the transition to a more democratic and diverse board representing WordPress stakeholders. Matt Mullenweg disagreed.

Criticism of Mullenweg’s leadership

Joost says he was prompted to speak out after Matt Mullenweg’s decision to pause WordPress services over the holidays inadvertently caused an issue with WordCamp registrations, forcing Joost to open a GitHub ticket to resolve the issue. The holiday break made it clear to Joost that one person’s control over the WordPress project had become problematic.

Mullenweg’s leadership style was questioned, and Joost characterized him as a benevolent dictator for life (BDFL) whose rule was no longer benevolent. He quoted Mullenweg from an interview in which he said he did not identify as a dictator and suggested the term “enlightened leader.” Joost scoffed at the idea, saying that many in the WordPress community would disagree with the self-description of an “enlightened leader.”

The WordPress community lacks democracy

The blog post notes the irony that the WordPress project’s mission is to democratize publishing, but the WordPress project itself is far from democratic, essentially controlled by one person. He expressed his belief that the current management structure does not allow for diversity of opinion and that its restrictive control over the WordPress trademark stifles growth.

A screenshot of the WordPress mission statement

He writes about the lack of diversity of opinion:

“You need many voices, many ideas, many backgrounds. You have to embrace diversity. Unfortunately, those who have ideas that do not go in the same direction as our current leader are shut down, quite a few are even banned…”

One of the changes Joost suggests is loosening Mullenweg’s grip on the WordPress trademark to allow for more growth:

“The WordPress trademark is placed in the public domain or otherwise treated in such a way that any company can freely say that they are in the business of ‘WordPress hosting’, ‘WordPress support’, etc. Not only because it’s the right thing for me, but because it means we allow the growth of terms and concepts.”

Joost’s role and vision for change

Finally, Joost volunteers to lead the change in WordPress to make it a truly democratic foundation with a governing board representing all stakeholders.

He writes:

“Reclaiming the commons means that we try to hear every voice, be considerate of all the different uses of that commons, and move us all forward.”

… I am here and I am willing to lead this transition.”

Among the changes Joost is proposing is a “unified” WordPress repository, a way for multiple plugin and theme directories to organize reviews and plugins that are then updated to other directories, decentralizing the official WordPress theme and plugin repositories.

He expects to enter discussions with others in mid-January 2025 to come up with a plan for how to move forward.

Mullenweg rejects Joost’s proposals

Matt Mullenweg commented on Joost’s blog post, offering a passive-aggressive rejection of everything he suggested. His comment was cloaked in politeness as he shared an indirect criticism and recommendation that Joost leave the WordPress community.

These parts of Mullenweg’s response suggest that Joost should start its own community outside of WordPress:

“I think this is a great idea for you to run and operate under a non-WordPress name… There’s really no way to achieve everything you want without starting with a fresh slate…”

This is Mullenweg’s full response:

“I think this is a great idea for you to run and operate under a name other than WordPress. There’s really no way to achieve everything you want without starting with a fresh slate from a trademark, branding and people standpoint.”

The internal struggle is already happening

If Mullenweg resists change, an infighting within the WordPress community seems inevitable. In fact, the momentum for it has already started; a group of WordPress contributors recently signed on an open letter asking for governance reform.

He wrote an open letter:

• “Main associates and associates
• Elders and contributors to the Make/WordPress team
• Others serve in various roles in the community”

They wrote:

• “We oppose the status quo and believe that the current internal operating structure of the WordPress project threatens the health and sustainability of the project and its community.
• We object to the ongoing opacity of the WordPress governance model.
• We object to one person, Matt Mullenweg, who controls all official infrastructure, including the project’s website, email systems, support forums, core, plugin and theme repositories, update systems, security tools, communication channels, and other technical means.
• We are against making big decisions without community input, advice or support.”

Change is coming. Joost’s proposal is a way to achieve that change in a way that protects the core principles and community of the open source WordPress project.

Featured Image Shutterstock/Jacob Lund