[wp-hackers] WP 3.1 admin bar

[Aaron D. Campbell]

I know that Aaron Jorbin already responded to this, but I want to make 
sure that it's clear this isn't a single person's point of view.  First, 
you *can* help decide what happens in WordPress by joining the developer 
chats and participating on TRAC.  If you don't take the time to do these 
things then you shouldn't be disappointed when you're unspoken words 
weren't heard.

That's not to say that there isn't a core group that has more 
influence.  However, it's not Automattic that's the core group and it's 
not a dictatorship.  They have simply earned a reputation and thus they 
have more pull.  It's not a closed group, and if you want you could be a 
part of it some day if you participate enough and show that you have the 
necessary skills and discretion.

Additionally, WordPress is definitely NOT an Automattic product.  It is 
completely open source and community driven.  Personally I've never 
written a line of code for Automattic, but have plenty of patches in 
WordPress.

As was said before, if you don't like a particular feature, the best 
time to bring it up is while the feature is still an idea not after it's 
gone through alpha, beta, and several RCs.

On 2/17/2011 2:23 PM, Christopher Ross wrote:
> Aaron, your email identifies part of the overall problem in the community.
>
>  From what I gather there are two groups of developers in WordPress these days. There are those who are close to Automattic and make decisions (Jane published a list of them) and those who are far enough outside the inner circle to not know about these features until it's too late.
>
> I think both sides have a point.
>
> WP is a commercial product for Automattic so they need to do what they need to do. On the other hand, the core of WP is open source, some of the recent features might be a little too brand focussed for people who don't share an interest in Automattic.
>
> If a develop doesn't like what the core team is doing, they're free to change it. I'm just glad we have the hooks to do it.
>
> c.
>