Centralization, Governance, and Commercialization

Jonathan and Luke discuss Matt’s keynote and the reversal in their expectations going into the event. They share their surprise at a particular data point and Luke offers a few highlights from his recent experience at Enqueue in Sydney.

Luke and Jonathan are back from an unplanned break and pick up with Luke’s growing interest in the FAIR project. Jonathan asks questions about how things work and expresses his present, yet softening cynicism. They also talk about the Internet Archive’s new project with Automattic.

Jonathan and Luke discuss the copying of plugins and the history of doing so in the WordPress ecosystem. Jonathan realizes what’s been bothering him about it all and Luke points out the difference between stated and practiced values. They also start to talk AI browsers.

Luke and Jonathan discuss WooCommerce and the opportunities (and challenges) for newcomers like FluentCart. Luke shares the four things he thinks an ecommerce product needs and Jonathan enjoys Luke’s unexpected breakthrough.

FAIR 1.0 has been released! Jonathan and Luke discuss the implications of the project, modifying the WordPress admin’s “featured plugins”, and the impact of a federated ecosystem. Luke thinks Jonathan failed the challenge.

Jonathan and Luke speak with Matt. Yep, that Matt. They talk about jazz, blogging, photography, and the infuriating, heartbreaking, grey-hair-making drama that’s engulfed the WordPress community over the last year.

Jonathan and Luke discuss their nervousness going in to their recording with Matt Mullenweg. They share the preparation process, the questions they wrestled with, the approach they decided to take, and how the experience went.

Luke and Jonathan are back for Season 10 of Crossword. They open with a recap of WordCamp US and Matt’s “State of the Word” address. They discuss their approach to guests for the upcoming season, introduce this season’s sponsors, and look ahead to the upcoming WordPress 6.9 release. Shownotes: https://ma.tt/2025/09/wordpresser/ https://www.geoffreylitt.com/2025/09/10/ai-as-teleportation.html

Luke and Jonathan recap Season 9 of Crossword, preview Season 10, and share their thoughts on what they’re looking forward to over the next 6 months of WordPress. No cricket is discussed, but a recurring pun does make an appearance.

Mary Hubbard is the Executive Director of the WordPress Project and brings a rich background in ecommerce and social media to her self-described work as a product-focused “connector”. Mary joins Luke and Jonathan to discuss the open versus closed web, what the WordPress ecosystem can learn from platforms like TikTok, and the importance of digital literacy in a world of AI. Mary helps Luke make a new connection, Jonathan geeks out about the Art of Gathering, and birds join in from the Australian coast.