Mandatory Pineapple Pizza Checkbox on WordPress.org’s Login Form Made Optional

The controversial mandatory pineapple pizza checkbox on WordPress.org’s login form has been made optional. This decision follows a Twitter poll conducted by WordPress.org, in which 81.2% of respondents voted against making the checkbox mandatory. Additionally, 58.3% of respondents declared that pineapple on pizza is not delicious.

The Checkbox’s History

The checkbox initially replaced one from October, which required users to confirm, “I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise,” before accessing their accounts. This earlier requirement was removed following a court ruling.

Advocacy for Change

Former WordPress Plugin Review Team representative Mika Epstein advocated for the change by opening a Trac ticket to make the “Pineapple is Delicious” checkbox optional. The proposal quickly gained traction, with Matt Mullenweg expressing his support, stating, “I’m supportive of this change.”

Community Reaction

In response to the change, Jeff Chandler tweeted, “The stupid Pineapple checkbox when logging into WordPress.org is now optional.” CEO of ClikIT Blake Whittle remarked, “Not of any community doing. Only because Matt is supportive of the change on his personal website.” Accessibility Expert Alex Stine added, “Matt said yes, change goes live.”

Alternative Proposal

Earlier, Patricia BT suggested an alternative in the Make WordPress #community-team Slack channel. She said, “Could the .org login box be changed to something a bit more serious? Maybe something like “I adhere to the Community Code of Conduct” so everyone is following the code. I understand the pizza joke and I am relieved that the legal implications of the previous one are gone (see my concerns about legal involvement on my blog), but the WordPress community must look a bit more serious and not have newcomers scratching their heads… We are the community and people (meetup attendees, end-users, customers, etc) ask us (who are more involved here) about what is happening and they need trust.”

Automattic’s Input

Dion Hulse of Automattic chimed in, saying, “Rather than having a checkbox that must be checked every time without thought, it’s probably better to figure out if the policies are in a format that can be linked to / agreed to, and enable that functionality.”