Don’t Shit On Your Volunteers

I have been an avid watcher of WordPress Wank for some time. I don’t always agree with the beatings that she deals out. Recently however I have been seeing things more and more from TGA’s point of view.

The whole “debacle” over the way Dr Mike was treated when his moderator rights on the wordpress.com forum were first given without asking and then removed without so much as a “thanks for your help” or “here’s a t-shirt”.

TGA now points out more volunteers on the wp.com community that are being “asked” to leave. This is bloody ridiculous. I, like Wank will take a screenshot as I expect the forum thread to disappear.

I cannot believe that a company like Automattic would treat volunteers like this. For those that don’t know, Matt is the “head” of Automattic and the original creator of WordPress. There was a point where I thought that WordPress was the be all and end all of blog applications. As far as the application goes, it’s still the best IMHO. The company (Automattic, not all the people that do sterling work FOR FREE at wp.org) sucks. I have seen Matt do exactly what he wants, when he wants, if he wants. With no thanks at all to anyone in the wp.com community.

Well, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Timethief and Options leave wordpress.com altogether. I am certainly considering doing the same. I have three blogs over there that I will more than happily move to blogger (well, probably not blogger, but somewhere else) when I have a few minutes spare.

If I could get Habari to work on my hosting then WP would be out the window in about 7 seconds flat.

Collin on December 29, 2007 | Filed Under Words

10 Comments

drmike on December 29th, 2007

…or a “Here’s the reason why removed you” or a “Thanks for all your help” or a “Oh, I’m sorry we blocked your Akismet license. You know, the one we keep telling folks that it’s worth $500 a month and we gave it to you for free” or a “Oh, you sent me an email about the situation. Sure I’ll respond to it.”

I noted that Wank’s comment got deleted. I wonder if she saved a screencap of it.

timethief on December 29th, 2007

When I came onto the forum today I answered questions and did not see the thread in question until you posted to it. When I read Matt’s post I was utterly appalled.

It is true that I have served many hours on the forum but my motivation did not spring from a desire to do Matt, Automattic and their staff any favours. I did it for the bloggers, who get the benefit from getting quick responses to their questions, rather than waiting and waiting and waiting as they do at wordpress.org and at blogspot. I did it because it made me feel good to be able to help them.

After I finished answering as many questions as I could this morning I allowed myself to weep. I made a cuppa and had a heart-to-heart talk with my self. Then, I went off to my other ASO hosted blog and while trying to formulate a clear enough mind to actually compose a blog post I received this shocking email, which I have not dignified with a response.

WordPress.com Forums…
Standard Header|Full Message View
Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg …
AddSaturday, December 29, 2007 11:43:43 AM
To:tismee@gmail.com; islandtimethief@yahoo.ca
Cc:mark

I apologize for being so curt on the forums. It was late, I had been
traveling, and I was very tired.

I really appreciate the help you’ve both given WP.com users. And even
though that time is ending, is there anything I can do to thank you for
the countless hours you’ve spent on the forums already?

–
Matt Mullenweg
http://photomatt.net | http://wordpress.org
http://automattic.com | http://akismet.com

skippy on December 30th, 2007

What problems are you having with Habari? If there’s anything we can do to help, please let us know on the habari-users mailing list!
http://groups.google.com/group/habari-users

Collin on December 30th, 2007

Hi Skippy – thanks for the offer.

Unfortunately the big problem at the moment is that my host (just checked via cPanel) is running PHP 4.4.3 rather than PHP 5.2

I just looked at the installation and noted the AddHandler for the .htaccess so I might give that a go at some point.

I’ll also head over to the host’s support forums and find out if they support PHP5 at all.

Trent on December 30th, 2007

If you want to play around with a habari install Collin, contact me via email ;)

Trent

timethief on January 8th, 2008

The answer is now clear as to why this has all happened. Wordpress hired “hanni” as their new Moderator aka “happiness engineer”. She has been lurking on the forum with no “member” key master” or “staff” behind her name now for 4 days. Check this out http://wank.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/our-new-robotic-overlord/

After wank exposed her the word “member” appeared and disappeared and was replaced with “moderator”. This comment is to let you know that I have deleted the controversial posts from my blog and why I did that. The blog at http://wpbloggingtips.wordpress.com is a beginner’s blog. It contains valuable information that I put together with good intentions.

Ironically I had already planned to back way off so I could fulfill my new commitment and I had arranged for that with raincoaster. It’s sad that the management and staff in wp lack the social skills that one would think are required of people in business.

I do not want the all the work I did on the forum and in that blog to be smeared with the taint of the crap that has gone down. I’m turning my backside to wordpress, breaking some wind and then I’m walking away.

Steven T on January 9th, 2008

I wouldn’t host my blogs with WP.com anyway, I have already seen some examples of Matt & Co sabotaging and even censoring blogs and comments that go through, I wouldn’t feel safe at all, and in fact I don’t feel safe posting comments on Wank’s blog (or any WP.com blog for that matter) because I feel that Big Brother Matt is watching me and what I write, trying his best to probably delete/censor/modify/suppress my comments, I tend to avoid WP.com like the plague now. I have also decided to stop using Akisment or any service from Automattic that connects with my blog because I am starting to have a paranoia towards Automattic and their recent examples of suppression and censorship.

Well done Matt, you have successfully alienated some of your most trusty volunteers and helpers that have done nothing but try to help thousands of people with not even a thankyou or an appreciation, maybe you’ll alienate a few more and you will soon destroy the reputation of yourself and your company. You have proved how you can be despicable, callous, rude, alienating and very unprofessional, grow up.

timethief/inactive on January 9th, 2008

/nod to Stephen T who has no trouble at all when it comes to staying on topic.

I have the same creepy feeling that little brother Matt is watching every wp.com blog that I post to. I’m gone from wp.com and my hosted blogs no longer use Akismet. Defensio seems to be working very well for me.

When it comes to Matt expressing appreciation for the work the volunteers do for his company this is what I observed.

Raincoaster got the first domain and domain mapping at wp.com form wp.com free of charge. Sulz got a css upgrade for her blog free of charge. Drmike got a $500 commercial Akismet install for his hosting service free of charge, plus donations to his help me buy a lap top campaign, a domain, and other small perks from wp.com. I answered more questions than any of them (drmike included) and, I got a “sucker punch” free of charge.

IMHO tiger’s do not change their stripes. So expecting Matt to act in anyway other than being rude, ruthless and and very unprofessional, if and when he does grow up, is silly.

Juan on January 9th, 2008

“Well done Matt, you have successfully alienated some of your most trusty volunteers and helpers that have done nothing but try to help thousands of people with not even a thankyou or an appreciation”

Unfortunately, like I said in one of my blogs at wp.com, they don’t care. Never have and never will. Besides, we’re just a few grains of sand in their vast user base sea…

The New Wolfs Howl » Blog Archive » Brief notes on January 9th, 2008

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