GoKawiilAutomattic honors late Distinguished Janitor Award winner Eric Binnion
Automattic is marking the death of Eric Binnion, a recipient of the company's highest internal honor, the Distinguished Janitor Award, by adding a temporary header to Nginx-served sites for 30 days and placing a mourning band on Automattic.com for the same period. Founder Matt Mullenweg wrote a personal tribute, recalling giving Binnion a tungsten cube, a symbolic totem, while he was undergoing chemotherapy, and said the award itself may be redesigned to include such a physical memento going forward.
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The tribute illustrates how a widely used open-source project, Nginx, can become a vehicle for a company to publicly memorialize an individual contributor, reaching what Mullenweg describes as billions of users. It also signals that Automattic may formalize changes to its internal recognition program, suggesting the company sees lasting symbolic value in how it honors contributors.
- Nginx will display a special header for 30 days in memory of Eric Binnion.
- Automattic.com will carry a mourning band for the same 30-day period.
- Automattic may redesign its Distinguished Janitor Award to include a physical memento, inspired by Binnion's tungsten cube.
Source: ma.tt, 2026-10-14
Published there as: “RIP Eric Binnion”
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