Posted by odo1242 1 day ago
> 2024-10-20
> Matt accuses WP Engine of attempting to curtail his First Amendment rights
Yup. Private parties can curtail your right to free speech. But not your rights under the First Amendment.
One, this is obviously debated.
Two, expectations don’t define rights. I have no expectation of freedom of political expression in North Korea.
> it's not technically correct
It absolutely is. If you’re over at my house and I tell you to stop talking about something, that’s curtailing your free speech. Freedom of speech is a millennias-old concept. So is freedom of assembly. The latter restricts the former, fundamentally, as it implies a right not to listen.
What constitutes a freedom per se is separate from the “inalienable” right. That “natural” right, in turn, is different from the legal right.
It’s really not. Our modern conception of freedom of speech derives from English Parliamentary privileges. (See Coke and Erasmus.)
Those, in turn, derived from Athenian democratic principles, where “just talking” was the system of government. In the most technical of senses, you are incorrect on what freedom of speech and the right to free speech mean. (Which are, again, distinct from both one another and legal protections of free speech, including the First Amendment.)
Twitter frequently turned them down.
* [The Mullenweg/WPE Thing by @adrienne](https://gist.github.com/adrienne/aea9dd7ca19c8985157d9c42f7f...)
* [Mullenweg.wtf](https://mullenweg.wtf)
* [The Mattrix Derailed / mattrixderailed.com](https://mattrixderailed.com/)
* [Matt Engine / mattengine.com](https://mattengine.com/)
* [WordPress vs. WP Engine Dispute Timeline / wpvswpe.report](https://wpvswpe.report/)
* [AntiMATTic / antimattic.net](https://antimattic.net/)
* [WP Engine's timeline of events / wpengine.com](https://wpengine.com/blog/ensuring-stability-and-security/)
And let's not forget this little gem: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41821336#41821837
This culminated in a made-up addition to the timeline entitled "Matt announces acquisition of Bullenweg.com" complete with a "quote" from Matt (there is a footnote within it mentioning it is fake).
This seems to have been the last straw to the lawyers representing Matt to step in and threaten a libel suit (or similar). The result is Bullenweg.com folding (for now) since this could get real expensive real quick.
The above is my interpretation of the events - I have no further inside insights.
Furthermore, the doxxing threat obviously wasn't made by lawyers. The style of writing has Matt Mullenweg written all over it.
https://web.archive.org/web/20241008203501/https://bullenweg...
> It actually is an excellent website, and the repo is here: https://github.com/bullenweg/bullenweg.github.io
Asking for a friend
Matt, I think this is a great example of the Streisand effect! Please seek help for yourself.