Mullenweg Pauses WordPress Services – Hopes To Reopen Next Year

Matt Mullenweg announced the abrupt pause in services offered by WordPress.org, affecting plugin submissions, reviews, theme submissions, and additions to the photo directory. He offers to keep providing these services to WP Engine, citing the recent court order against him and Automattic that compels him to offer “free labor and services.”

Pause For The Holidays

Mullenweg published a post on the official WordPress blog to announce a pause in free services offered by WordPress.org to give the “many tired volunteers around WordPress.org a break for the holidays.”

The pause affects:

• New account registrations on WordPress.org
• New plugin directory submissions
• New plugin reviews
• New theme directory submissions
• New photo directory submissions

The pause doesn’t affect the ability to install new instances of WordPress sites or accounts, which sounds contradictory.

Here’s what he wrote in his list of what services are paused:

“New account registrations on WordPress.org (clarifying so press doesn’t confuse this: people can still make their own WordPress installs and accounts)”

Mullenweg makes a point to note that the pause doesn’t affect WP Engine, stating that he’s legally required to keep providing free labor and services” services to WP Engine, writing that if WP Engine requires those services they can have their “high-priced attorneys” speak to his “high-priced attorneys” to gain access.

He then shared a cryptic message that implied there was a chance that WordPress may not resume those services in 2025, saying that it hinged on his being able to find the “time, energy, and money” to undo the pause in 2025, which he writes is being expended defending against WP Engine’s lawsuit against him and Automattic.

Mullenweg wrote:

“Right now much of the time I would spend making WordPress better is being taken up defending against WP Engine’s legal attacks. Their attacks are against Automattic, but also me individually as the owner of WordPress.org, which means if they win I can be personally liable for millions of dollars of damages.”

He signs off inviting those who’d like to fund those attacks on him to sign up for WP Engine and that those who don’t can sign up for other web hosts, linking to both WP Engine and a WordPress.org page that offers promotions to induce WP Engine clients to switch away.

Read Mullenweg’s announcement here:

Holiday Break

Featured Image by Shutterstock/MPIX