Ben Lovejoy, for 9 to 5 Mac:

You may be aware of a bizarre feud between WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg and website hosting platform WP Engine.

But things took a very silly turn today when the WordPress login acquired a new checkbox requiring users to declare that they are not in any way connected with WP Engine …

[...]

WordPress.org users are forced to confirm they are not “affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise” before registering a new account or logging in. Users who don’t check that box can’t log in or register a new account.

Some high-profile WordPress contributors are currently locked out.

Several community members have reported being blocked from WordPress Slack including Javier Casares (Hosting Team Rep and also Lead for the WordPress Advanced Administration Handbook), Ryan McCue (WordPress committer, and co-lead on the WordPress REST API), Jono Alderson(technical SEO consultant), Alex Sirota (founder of NewPath Consulting) and Andrew Hutchings (Chief Contributions Officer at MariaDB Foundation).

[...]

While Mullenweg may be right that the for-profit WPE could show WordPress more love, the fact is that WordPress made the code open-source on terms which permit commercial use.

Whatever the arguments, this is not the way to handle it. In particular, the new login box move has all the hallmarks of a childish temper tantrum. Leave WordPress users out of it, please.