Matt Mullenweg overrules core committers, puts Akismet on WordPress 7.0 Connectors screen

What happened

It has been reported that Matt Mullenweg instructed WordPress core committers to register Automattic’s Akismet spam plugin on the new Connectors screen shipping with WordPress 7.0, reversing a revert that several committers had pushed. The change was first proposed in a Trac ticket opened by Automattic-sponsored committer Jorge Costa; the ticket was committed quickly and then reverted after pushback. Mullenweg later wrote on the ticket, “I did say that, and have changed my mind and we’re doing this.”

Why it blew up

Committers argued the move broke process and precedent. Fueled-sponsored committer Peter Wilson said Akismet should register its own connector through the plugin API like any other plugin, and flagged the risk of duplicate entries because Akismet’s development branch already adds a connector. Other committers objected to making this change during the release candidate period with limited public discussion; one called it “inappropriate.” It has been reported that the revert was committed on April 5 after those objections.

Mullenweg's response and the fallout

Mullenweg didn’t just reinstate the change—he framed the dispute as symptomatic of deeper cultural rot. He called the episode “a microcos of all the ways we’ve undone everything that made us successful,” and scoffed that including Akismet—“in core for 20 years,” he noted—was being treated as some existential moral crisis: “THOU SHALL NOT PASS.” The episode was catalyzed in part by a Slack complaint from developer Earle Davies, which Mullenweg says he saw mid-flight via Starlink. So what now? Governance, contribution norms, and the boundaries between Automattic and core are all back on the table. Storm in a teacup — or an alarm bell for WordPress’ next chapter?

Sources: therepository.email, Hacker News