WordPress Strikes Again…Hopefully For The Last Time

It is now 2026, and the official WordPress account on X has thrown the first jab of the year. On Saturday the account made a sarcastic remark about the FAIR Package Manager. The post was originally open for comments, but has since been locked and many of the comments of people being upset about it were hidden.

The initial post by WordPress was a repost of Nicholas Garafolo’s troubles with the latest version of FAIR:

Here I am updating one of my sites for the new year, and it looks like FAIR broke my plugin and theme updates. 😭 pic.twitter.com/nLol7f2RYp

— Nicholas Garofalo (@EidolonNight) January 8, 2026

FAIR did have an issue with the 1.2.1 release on December 22, 2025, and it was fixed in 1.2.2 two days later. The update itself did require users having to manually upload the update into the server using something like SFTP, or using WP-CLI to perform the updates.

The problem with this post then is the attitude, mockery, and disdain that comes from the official WordPress account. WordPress itself posted about breaking with Joost almost a year earlier in January 2025. This comment came during the height of the Automattic vs WP Engine debacle. Yet in April of 2025, WordPress called for a Jubilee and in May of 2025, Matt reflected on how WordPress is a shared-ecosystem.

It had seemed like in the middle of 2025 that things were starting to look up, and while there were various comments and events throughout the rest of the year, the Automattic vs AutomaticCSS issue in November made us realize that the chances of coming together again were not looking great.

Furthermore, this post further divides the community, and increases doubt for those wanting to invest in what is a great software. The comments and quotes from community members about WordPress’ post display a lot of frustration, tiredness, and uncertainty in the future of WordPress.

I love WordPress-the-software, but this kind of childish nonsense makes me ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with WordPress-the-brand. What childish, petty, unprofessional, shameful, amateur nonsense. All of these people need firing and replacing with capable grown-ups. https://t.co/Hr01jRYSJ3

— Jono Alderson (@jonoalderson) January 10, 2026

Nothing positive is gained from using the WordPress social accounts like this. This is distasteful. This helps no one. https://t.co/HEMveyPs3q

— Jeff (@jeffr0) January 10, 2026

The way this account is managed is bad for WordPress overall.

It's supposed to broadcast things that matter in WordPress, not minor snipes.

The more people are turned off, the less they'll listen.

When something important needs to be communicated, it will be ignored. https://t.co/Qc79pqLh9n

— Victor M Ramirez (@isvictoriousss) January 10, 2026

Ejemplo de lo que no debe hacer nunca una cuenta oficial de un proyecto Open Source https://t.co/FR5WkhXW16

— Fernando Tellado Ⓦ (@fernandot) January 10, 2026

These are just a few samples of the many responses on X.

As echoed in many of the comments above, the fact that this came from the official WordPress.org account is discouraging and damaging. This is not how the community should be. Yes, there is no doubt that there are corporations that take so much from WordPress’ free resources and community and provide nothing in return. This has been an issue for a long time both for WordPress and for a lot of OSS out there.

This comment also counters so much of what WordPress is About.

In WordPress’ mission, it states:

WordPress is welcoming and inclusive.

Furthermore, the four freedoms state:

• The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
• The freedom to study how the program works and change it to make it do what you wish.
• The freedom to redistribute.
• The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

All of this said. We hope that this will be a wake up call to those running the official WordPress accounts. These posts, especially ones that go after individuals or other OSS, provide absolutely no benefit to the community, they hurt it.

The community as a whole wants to see WordPress succeed, they want to help it grow and they want to help it mature. We hope to see more encouraging, uplifting, and motivating posts in the future.

Let 2026 be the year WordPress comes back together, the community could benefit from an amazing success and redemption story.