You make an opensource project, provide hosting services, then others take your project, modify it for their needs, cut into your hosting market share and then you try to get rid of them.
...What was the end game plan?
...What was the end game plan?
In addition, the GPL allows you to do what you mentioned. You can take any GPL-licensed code and use it for commercial purposes without having to contribute back. The license is designed to protect you in this way, and it aligns with the spirit of GPL. Expecting something in return for open-sourcing code is not in line with the spirit of GPL and open-source software. If you're not comfortable with other people making money from your code, it's best not to open-source it.
WordPress.com is only successful in the first place because WordPress was open source and had so many hosting options
Also what do you mean it was modified? WPE didn't fork or modify WordPress any more than other hosts
We should judge for how it’s being handled now.