Blog – Page 9

The call is coming from inside the house

This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.

A master class in how not to lead through crisis is continuing at Automattic and it’s rough to watch.

After Matt Mullenweg sets off a firestorm by going “scorched earth” on WP Engine in September 2024 (if you don’t know the story) there’s been one dodgy decision after another but through it all Mullenweg and his executive leadership team continue to blame the lack of success and growth on staffers.

October 2024: Make two “alignment offers” to root out anyone willing to speak sense to the madness of all the wpdrama. 159 walk in the first and 25-30 in the second. Allege that the people who chose to leave were low performers and now that everyone left is aligned things should be better.

January 10: Matt Mullenweg states “There are no layoffs plans at Automattic, in fact we’re hiring fairly aggressively and have done a number of acquisitions since this whole thing started, and have several more in the pipeline.”

April 2: Automattic decimates its engineering staff in a 280 person layoff with a paltry severance compared to alignment offers. Leaving many feeling like suckers for showing loyalty.

April 8: The engineering lead admits that just this week they are beginning to see the gaps in engineering due to the layoffs.

April 9: CFO accidentally sends a Slack message to the entire company that not only do engineers need to, but all of Automattic needs to “Get aligned, get productive, deliver or move on”.

The call is coming from inside the house. The C-suite is failing to get real alignment because “leadership” at WordPress.com, Automattic, et al. is not, and have not, been leading. They haven’t come up with an executable commercial plan for the company in nearly a decade. Any time they get close to doing so a shiny object appears and **poof** on to something else.

Kellie Peterson

A scathing take from Kellie Peterson, who was Head of Domains at Automattic until 2023. There’s lots more/similar spiciness from her on Bluesky, for those inclined to such things.

I’m not sure whether I agree with everything Kellie asserts, but I’ve certainly been concerned about the direction of management for the last year or more. Obviously I’d be biased, speaking as one of the “suckers” who showed loyalty in October only to get axed in April…

But for a while now it had felt like my reasons for staying were entirely about my love for (a) my team, a full half of whom got laid off at the same time as me anyway, and (b) WordPress and the open source space it represents, which of course Automattic’s been distancing itself from.

(Incidentally – and speaking of open source – I’m quite enjoying the freedom to contribute to ClassicPress, which previously might have been frowned-upon by my employers. I’ve not got a first PR out yet, but I’m hoping to soon.)

So yeah… while I might not agree with all of Kellie’s sentiments (here and elsewhere)… I increasingly find I have the clarity to agree with many of them. Automattic seems to be a ship on fire, right now, and I really feel for my friends and former colleagues still aboard what must be an increasingly polarised environment, seemingly steering hard towards profits over principles.

Daily Brushing

8-year-old, looking like a haystack: “Why do I have to brush my hair? I did it yesterday!”

Why is there a “small house” in IBM’s Code page 437?

This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.

There’s a small house ( ⌂ ) in the middle of IBM’s infamous character set Code Page 437. “Small house”—that’s the official IBM name given to the glyph at code position 0x7F, where a control character for “Delete” (DEL) should logically exist. It’s cute, but a little strange. I wonder, how did it get there? Why did IBM represent DEL as a house, of all things?

…

Glyph Drawing Club Blog

It probably ought to be no surprise that I, somebody who’s written about the beauty and elegance of the ASCII table, would love this deep dive into the specifics of the unusual graphical representation of the DEL character in IBM Code Page 437.

It’s highly accessible, so even if you’ve only got a passing interest in, I don’t know, text encoding or typography or the history of computing, it’s a great read.

Dan Q did not find GC2WTXD JOIN UP THE NUDDSY’S~Pumping Station

This checkin to GC2WTXD JOIN UP THE NUDDSY'S~Pumping Station reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Might be here, or quite possibly was shaken loose by last season’s trimming and pollarding and it’s now who knows where. Too many disappointing DNFs in this series which, coupled with the increasing rain, feels like the Universe’s way of telling me to give up and go eat some breakfast.

Such a beautiful landscape with such caching potential. Hope it gets the love and attention it deserves.

Dan Q found GC2WTZE JOIN UP THE NUDDSY’S~Forest View

This checkin to GC2WTZE JOIN UP THE NUDDSY'S~Forest View reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Huge thanks (and a big thumbs up) to Saintsalive1 for the replacement cache container; what a great hiding spot. Rain is starting, I’d better pick up the pace if I’m going to stay dry. TFTC!

Dan Q did not find GC2WTZK JOIN UP THE NUDDSY’S~Oak Gate

This checkin to GC2WTZK JOIN UP THE NUDDSY'S~Oak Gate reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

As others have observed, container (previously destroyed) is now completely absent. Needs replacement or archiving. Such a lovely area for a series; a shame to have so many spots made unavailable by the 0.1M circles of unmaintained and absent caches.

Dan Q did not find GC2WV01 JOIN UP THE NUDDSY’S~Field of Dreams

This checkin to GC2WV01 JOIN UP THE NUDDSY'S~Field of Dreams reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Made a search around the hint area but this one is nowhere to be seen. Based on the string of recent DNFs, it’s probably gone or else so deeply buried that it’ll never be seen again. Shame, it’s a nice spot, and the snowdrop-carpeted woods beyond are delightful. Flagged for attention.

Dan Q found GC3110V JOIN UP THE NUDDSY’S~I ‘OAK’ THIS

This checkin to GC3110V JOIN UP THE NUDDSY'S~I 'OAK' THIS reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Woke early and unrested, grumpy and tired, after staying nearby, and figured a pre-breakfast walk through these fields might nice my mood. Coordinates pointed right to a candidate hiding spot that set my geosense tingling and soon had the logbook signed. Those nettles are fierce! One snuck up my trouser leg and got my ankle. Waved good morning to the noisy nearby sheep as I pressed on.

Giant strategy

White’s move. Mate in three. A giant chessboard is the perfect environment to teach a child some basic chess strategy, right?

Note #26287

While adding an entry to OpenBenches (openbenches.org/bench/36677), I was struck by how much of an impact this woman – Jane Gregg – must have made on her local community.

In this community garden in Bampton, in the Lake District, a bench dedicated to her includes not only a plaque summarising her achievements but it’s also been hand-carved with the words “Jane an amazing human.”

Lake District art lesson

Brought the kids up Knipe Scar with limited and challenging art materials (huge sheets of paper and thick marker pens) for a lesson in drawing what a landscape makes you feel, rather than focusing on what you can actually see.

Note #26282

“I know that losing your job was hard,” my 8-year-old said to me this evening, “So you can borrow this.” He handed me his newest soft toy.

“It’ll help you feel better when you’re sad. Keep him for the week.”

😭

Dan Q found GC47GDB Kiln Crag – Knipescar

This checkin to GC47GDB Kiln Crag - Knipescar reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

A bit of an adventure! Coming directly from the next nearest cache on this pasture I first arrived some way above the GZ. Being a little wary of cliffs since my dad’s death¹, I opted to loop around and approach from below.

The scramble wasn’t especially hard, but it was unfruitful. Several attempts at the hint location, climbing and reaching, revealed nothing at all.

I decided to descend, find a spot of soft grass, and take a break, perhaps to look at the recent logs in case they revealed a clue: something I’d missed. And there, in the spot I chose for my rest… I found the cache! It must have been dislodged, perhaps over the winter rains, and fallen from its hiding place. The container is cracked (though it might have been already, based on the logs) and the logbook has clearly been wet and re-dried, but free cache was intact enough to sign the log.

I returned the container to what I suspect must have been its correct home, based on the hint. Hopefully it’ll stay nestled safely there until the next cacher comes this way! TFTC!

Footnotes

¹ He fell off a cliff off High Street, just over the valley: what a tragic coincidence it would be for me to go the same way, so nearby!

Dan Q found GC1DH2A Knipe Scar – Haweswater View

This checkin to GC1DH2A Knipe Scar - Haweswater View reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

How delightful to find such a well-sized and well-placed geocache, and in such a beautiful spot. Some fellow volunteers and I are spending the week in Bampton, working on improving some software that underpins the volunteer and rota management systems of a few hundred different charities.

Never one to let a hard day’s voluntary work keep me from a geocaching expedition, this afternoon I took a hot brisk walk up the scar to find this (and hopefully next another nearby!) cache. Caught my breath sitting on a rock near the GZ, before pressing on. SL, TNLN, TFTC. FP awarded for such a delightful spot.

Rosgill Crossroads

I’m in an extremely rural area and I needed a phone call with my lawyer about my recent redundancy. Phone signal was very bad, so I resolved to climb a nearby hill and call him back.

“I’m at a crossroads,” I said, when I finally found enough bars to have a conversation with him.

“In your life?” he asked.

“I guess,” I replied, “But also, y’know, literally.”