This zoo is a good zoo. In many ways, it’s like a lot of other zoos. There are a lot of different kinds of species and exhibits and it’s a popular zoo to go to. There are some patrons that only visit the zoo once, others that have lifetime passes, and most that visit somewhere in-between.
The zoo isn’t the youngest zoo but it’s not the oldest zoo either. It’s an average aged zoo. It is a big zoo though. It has more species than almost any other zoo. And lots of people visit this zoo.
The zoo stands out more than just how big it is though. It’s not just any big zoo. This is a zoo with a unicorn. When people talk about this zoo, they almost always talk about it as the zoo with the unicorn. There’s nothing wrong with the rest of the zoo, but the zoo has a unicorn, so it always gets a mention when people talk about it.
The unicorn is pretty neat. There aren’t a whole lot of unicorns, so it gets a lot of attention from inside and out. Inside, some of the other species love that they’re at the same zoo as the unicorn. The unicorn helps this zoo stand out — puts it on the map with other great zoos.
Others don’t like it so much. They don’t see what’s so special about the unicorn, and they’re a little upset how much attention the unicorn gets. The unicorn eats and poops and needs to be cared for just like all the other species in the zoo. The unicorn is a glorified horse, and what’s so special about horses?
Whenever something happens with the unicorn — even something small — the whole zoo hears about it. And often times the unicorn’s news gets spread around outside the zoo too. Stuff happens to the other species all the time, but that news doesn’t always get around the whole zoo, much less outside the zoo, and with some species hardly anyone ever hears any news at all.
With this zoo, there’s unicorn news and then there’s all the other news. Sometimes another species makes pretty big news — like the fun loving giraffe, or the big old elephant, or the scary big snake —  but outside the zoo that kind of news is mostly lost in the fray of other news from other zoos.
The unicorn likes being the star of this zoo, but sometimes the unicorn also wishes it could be at that one zoo that has lots of other unicorns. Here, none of the other species really get what it’s like to be a unicorn. But at that other zoo, there isn’t much going on outside of the unicorns; it could get pretty boring there once the allure of being around all the other unicorns wears off.
Nevertheless, the unicorn and the zoo are intertwined. The unicorn is a part of the zoo but the zoo just wouldn’t be the same without the unicorn. And the unicorn needs the zoo to survive. They are so intertwined, neither can truly thrive without the other. Neither is perfect, and neither is bad. Both make the zoo patrons happy.
Automattic is the unicorn in the WordPress zoo. It’s not perfect situation, but it’s not a bad one either. It’s just how it is. And it’s a good zoo.
