Matt Mullenweg, co-creator of WordPress, posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) announcing that Joost de Valk was no longer speaking at WordCamp Asia and was persona non grata for having “stabbed” him when he was vulnerable and betraying his confidence. Mullenweg cited statements by de Valk to prove his point, but those statements were presented without their full context, which significantly altered their meaning.
Joost de Valk Removed From WordCamp Asia
Joost de Valk, creator of the Yoast SEO plugin was scheduled to speak at WordCamp Asia on February 21st but was removed from the schedule. He had been scheduled to speak on the topic of marketing WordPress products. A post on X by Matt Mullenweg explaining why he was removed suggests that de Valk was removed on orders by Mullenweg.
Screenshot Of Joost De Valk’s WordCamp Asia Speaker Agenda
Mullenweg: Joost “Stabbed Me When I Was Down”
Matt Mullenweg posted an explanation of why Joost was removed from the WordCamp Asia schedule, with his motivation being to get ahead of any “drama” stirred up by de Valk, although at the time of writing Joost has been silent about the removal on both X and his blog.
Mullenweg posted:
“Before he tries to make more drama about not being at WordCamp Asia, I just wanted to say that I feel @jdevalk stabbed me when I was down, betrayed confidence, tried to take advantage of a situation for personal clout and influence.
I have given him hundreds of hours of my time and more access than almost anyone in the WP community, including admin access on Google Analytics, a marketing leadership position, and more. This trust was betrayed.
His previous contributions do not “make up” for this behavior, nor has he apologized or taken any conciliatory action. This deeply saddens me.
Because of this, I will not interact with him any further or participate with anything he’s involved with, he’s persona non grata.”
The term persona non grata means that a person is unwelcome. It’s use originated in diplomatic contexts but is now used for any situation where a person is no longer welcome.
Out Of Context Citations
Mullenweg followed up with another post with citations of statements published by Joost de Valk that Mullenweg characterize de Valk is trying to “stage a coup” of WordPress.
He continued:
“He’s trying to claim he didn’t want to fork or stage a coup, but wrote:
‘I think it’s time to let go of the cult and change project leadership.’
‘But it’s clear now, that we can no longer have him be our sole leader’
‘I’m already talking to several hosts about this, and would welcome anyone who wants to join these conversations, so we’re not duplicating work.’
‘I’m here, and willing to lead through this transition. I do have the time, the energy and the money needed to fund myself doing it.’
X is a micro-blogging format that limited how much context Mullenweg could post. It’s helpful to see those statements in context in order to fully understand them.
For example, the quote in which Joost references the “cult” nature of WordPress leadership takes on a different meaning when viewed in its full context.
Here’s the out of context version: