RIP Eric Binnion | Hacker News Reader

RIP Eric Binnion

ma.tt

87 pointsspeckx34 comments

I went to college with Eric and spent a lot of time working with him on projects while we were in school. He was a great developer who even then, like 15 years ago, was committing himself in so many ways to the open source community. Back then he was a big Drupal guy and had been doing free lance work in Drupal and made contributions to the Drupal ecosystem

He was a great man and fantastic developer that pushed Wordpress forwards, he pushed me forward as a peer when we were both trying to get out computer science degrees and I am glad to have known him. Rest in peace Eric

He was diagnosed end of March, told he had six months in May. Handled with incredible grace. RIP.

While the news isn’t great, not much changes for me personally. We’ll still show up and do the work as I’ve previously talked about, on the chance that we can prove the oncologists wrong. Outside of that, I’ll prioritize spending time with the kids, trying to handle as much as possible to make things as easy as possible for Sara after I die, and enjoying the days that I have left.

https://eric.blog/2026/05/24/six-months/

https://eric.blog/

https://friendsofericbinnion.wordpress.com/

His last blog post was well written, to the point, and sobering. The friends website measuring his lines of code and pull requests is making me feel sick to my stomach. I feel reminded to reflect on how I would measure my own life.

The very first word on the memorial website is "Automattician". I may have an ego, but even I cannot fathom having such a large ego that I would make my memorial to someone else about me and their work on my project.

"he will be remembered as the guy i gave an award to", looks like DJT's obituaries

well people just need to look at the "head" to understand, but i doubt people will go that far, he has a away of sanitizing history. in any case, RIP to this man.

Thank you for saying this, it made me feel sick.

I think that's a symptom of Matt generating a website for "an Automattician". They had a working relationship. If I died today, my husband would remember my life as someone who laughed and cried, my work might think of me as someone more inquisitive and analytical.

Father, husband, friend, generator of shareholder value

FWIW, this was an internal site that some folks at Automattic put together to share more about Eric's work life with his family.

The family asked a few days ago if we could make it public so they could share it with their broader family and friends.

His last blog entry was a tough read this morning as I sit at my desk for another day at the long day factory wondering if I should be doing more with the time I have because you just never know when it is up. RIP.

Do not pass on that contemplation without action.

According to his blog his life was going along until it changed. I have experienced the same where the one phone call or appointment changes the trajectory of life without one's consent.

I am prepared when "The Man Comes Around". I would hope others think deeply about that coming day.

Life is about finding balance. We cannot live every day as if it is our last, but you should be mindful and intentional about how you live your life.

Was the .com taken? This feels like a marketing exercise?

First AI slop memorial I have encountered.

Dystopian.

Don't worry they'll make it "more humane in the coming days" :x

Seriously, the audacity.

They could have hand-done it in a few hours and rolled then.

I predict that they will not make it more humane. Slop disseminated in an HTTP header.

I guess his friends/colleagues didn't actually care enough to write it without AI

I had to re-read it. I thought it was a joke.

Read to me as satire at first.

Cancer is the enemy! I am so sorry to learn of Eric's passing. Sometimes you don't have as much time as you think. We all should do so well as to document everything for our spouses and loved ones. I had a friend who died from cancer and we never truly unraveled all of his accounts for his widow. Live has moved on but stuff including precious memories were lost as cloud accounts were shuttered. Also do not underestimate how many organizations will not transfer accounts to the surviving spouse.

This is hitting me hard. I used to work for Automattic and met Eric a bunch of times during our meetups. He was a good one and will be missed. Rest in piece.

Rest in peace Eric.

I have a friend with ALS and I dread for the moment this happens. In fact, I'm feeling sad right now.

Call them. Say all the things.

The bottom of the tribute page says "An Automattic Love Letter".

Fucking automated love indeed. It's the Fleshlight of eulogies. One that has an accelerometer that counted usage stats.

"Claude write me a memorial for my employee. Make no mistakes. His life started when he joined my company."

People do weird things when grieving. This probably seemed like a wonderful tribute. From the outside, it seems tacky. But lots of things are tacky and memorials are for the living.

Eric's post was well written.

From the post:

> Our design team will make that less AI and more humane in the coming days.

You write something by hand, and have the PR team fix it later in these cases.

Not an AI-edifice to yourself.

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