Hot Nacho Scandal Sparks WP Engine Dispute

A WordPress scandal from two decades ago may provide insight into Matt Mullenweg’s resistance to criticism amid his current conflict with WP Engine.

In a recent interview, Mullenweg referenced three past scandals and controversies—long forgotten by many—to illustrate how the WP Engine dispute might also fade from public memory. One of the examples he highlighted was the Hot Nacho Scandal, which had significant consequences at the time.

The scandal led to Google banning WordPress.org, drew criticism from influential tech leaders, and generated negative coverage in mainstream media. Despite the severity of the situation, Mullenweg’s response back then offers context for his perspective on how the current controversy will be perceived in the future.

Matt Recalls Three Forgotten Controversies

In the interview, Matt Mullenweg downplayed the current WP Engine (WPE) dispute by referencing past controversies from the last 10 to 20 years. He used these examples to illustrate how, despite making mistakes and taking an aggressive stance in defending the WordPress open-source project, these incidents have largely faded from public memory over time. This perspective may offer insight into his thinking regarding the WP Engine conflict.

Mullenweg cited three notable incidents:

The 2005 Hot Nacho Scandal
The 2007 Easter Theme Massacre
The Chris Pearson Thesis Conflict

While the Thesis controversy is relatively recent, the other two date back nearly two decades. The Hot Nacho incident, in particular, was highly intense—similar to the current situation with WP Engine. It may help explain Mullenweg’s resolve to continue fighting this battle.

Reflecting on these past controversies, Mullenweg stated:

“You know, some of these previous controversies that got mainstream media coverage—you know, CNN—I had this Hot Nacho scandal in the first couple of years of WordPress, or the Thesis fight, or the Easter Massacre of themes. Like all these things I’m mentioning, you probably haven’t heard of.

It used to be like half my Wikipedia page, now it’s not. Today, if you go to my Wikipedia page, their PR firm has a whole paragraph about this. I think in five years, maybe it’ll be a sentence, or not even on there at all.

So it’s not my first rodeo. Sometimes you have to fight to protect your open-source ideals, the community, and your trademark.”

The Hot Nacho Scandal

The Hot Nacho scandal gets its name from an SEO software company that paid Matt Mullenweg to host web pages on WordPress.org. This deal ultimately led to Google banning the WordPress.org website.

At the time, Mullenweg was still working at CNET while also developing WordPress as a side project. When the scandal broke, it quickly gained media attention, with coverage in major tech publications such as Ars Technica, eWeek, MSNBC, Slashdot, and The Register.

On 31 March 2005, The Register published an article titled “Blog star ‘fesses up to payola spam scam,” which detailed the controversial arrangement between Mullenweg and the SEO software company. According to the report, Mullenweg had hosted at least 160,000 pieces of content on WordPress.org, using cloaking techniques to hide paid-for keywords like “asbestos,” “debt consolidation,” and “mortgages.” He was allegedly paid a flat fee by Hot Nacho Inc., a company specialising in software for search engine manipulation.

Criticism from Jason Kottke

Jason Kottke, a well-respected blogger and pioneer of independent publishing, was among those who publicly condemned Mullenweg’s actions. His criticism was particularly significant, given his influence within the blogging community.

Kottke wrote:

“WordPress is using its high PageRank to game Google AdWords. This stinks like last week’s fish. Is WordPress and WordPress.org an open-source project like we’ve all been told, or is it a company? Either way, contributing to spam noise on the web is annoying.”

For Mullenweg, receiving such strong criticism from a figure like Kottke would have been a major setback, adding to the broader backlash against his involvement in the scandal.

Hot Nacho Explains His Side

The founder of Hot Nacho explained that their company was developing SEO writing software and wanted to test it on WordPress.org. Matt Mullenweg agreed to accept payment to host the articles, using a simple cloaking method to hide the links from site visitors. Rather than employing advanced techniques, he merely used CSS to push the links off-screen.

In an attempt to defend Mullenweg, the Hot Nacho founder published an explanation, urging people not to judge him too harshly. He admitted that placing invisible links to the articles was a mistake but insisted Mullenweg had good intentions.

“For my part, I invariably place some advertising on such pages because I’m also not corporate-sponsored… It was a blunder that Matt used invisible links to connect to the Articles collection. It wasn’t necessary and I’m sure he regrets having done it that way. But please cut the guy some slack. …Sure, it was a mistake, but it was motivated by the fact that he’s a really good guy.”

Mullenweg himself acknowledged his misstep, reflecting on the lessons learned. He admitted that while he might have made the same choice with his knowledge at the time, he now recognised the consequences and would never consider it again.

“Knowing what I knew then, I would probably make the same decision; knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t even consider it. Not thinking through all the ramifications was a big mistake. So was not having more community dialogue from the beginning, which would have caught this earlier. I am extremely sorry for both, and it won’t happen again.”

Despite the controversy, there was an unexpected positive outcome. In the four days following the scandal, WordPress received more donations than it had in the entire previous year.

Transformative Event

The Hot Nacho Scandal was likely a defining moment for a young Matt Mullenweg. It subjected him to intense criticism, public rebuke, and even anonymous threats. At the time, he expressed that external opinions mattered less than one’s actions, suggesting that the experience helped him develop resilience.

Looking back at this controversy provides insight into Mullenweg’s current approach to the WP Engine conflict. The way he handled the past scandal may explain his mindset and response to criticism today.