I don't have faith in wordpress nor really care about them, but I find this particular aspect of Zeldman's story pretty believable. It's not hard to see Matt's actions both as bad and yet well intentioned, especially if the underlying problem of freeloading is perhaps existential to the current maintainers of wordpress (no idea if it is).

It's pretty easy to forgive mistakes if you believe people made them for the right reasons, and especially if those reasons are important and the consequences of the mistake fairly diffuse, as might be the case here. Also, given Zeldman's prior work he clearly believes in the power of big ideas; he's surely more likely than most to see the need for pain now to prevent much more later on.

Doesn't mean we have to agree with him; just that it's not hard to empathize with it.