--- date: 2020-10-30 layout: post title: About Seirdy (Rohan Kumar) outputs: - html - gemtext description: "Get to know Rohan Kumar, also known as Seirdy. Contact info, my projects, interests, online accounts, etc." ---
I'm known as Rohan and as Seirdy. There are some differences between these personas, but the line between the two is blurry. It's fine to mix them up. Rohan: meat­space persona {#Rohan} ----------------------------- I go by Rohan Kumar in "real life" (work, school, family, etc). Age : 21 Location : California, USA Gender : Male Pronouns : He : Him Software forges : [Sourcehut](https://sr.ht/~seirdy "{rel='me'}") (preferred) : [GitHub](https://github.com/Seirdy "{rel='me'}") : [GitLab](https://gitlab.com/Seirdy "{rel='me'}") : [Codeberg](https://codeberg.org/Seirdy "{rel='me'}") My preferred forge for personal projects is Sourcehut, but my repositories have remotes for GitHub, GitLab, and Codeberg too. I accept contributions from any of these platforms; use whichever you prefer. Seirdy: online persona {#Seirdy} ---------------------- I go by Seirdy online. I have multiple online personas, but Seirdy is my main one and the only one I feel comfortable associating with my meatspace persona. Seirdy is a bit of an abstract character, a bit less "professional" than Rohan. Location : Cyberspace Gender : Agender Pronouns : It : Its Social (Fediverse) : [@Seirdy@pleroma.envs.net](https://pleroma.envs.net/seirdy "{rel='me'}") (primary) : [@Seirdy@lemmy.ml](https://lemmy.ml/u/Seirdy "{rel='me'}") (Lemmy) Social (centralized) : [apioforum](https://a.gh0.pw/user/Seirdy "{rel='me'}") : [Tildes.net](https://tildes.net/user/Seirdy "{rel='me'}") : "Seirdy" on Linux Weekly News : [Lobsters](https://lobste.rs/u/Seirdy "{rel='me'}") : [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/Seirdy/ "{rel='me'}") : ["Hacker" News](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Seirdy "{rel='me'}") Email : [seirdy@seirdy.one](mailto:seirdy@seirdy.one "{class='u-email' itemprop='email' rel='me'}") PGP public key : [`1E892DB2A5F84479`](../publickey.asc "{rel='pgpkey authn' type='application/pgp-keys' class='u-key'}") (also available via Web Key Directory) Chat : IRC: "Seirdy" on many networks (Liberachat, Snoonet, OFTC, Tilde.Chat, apionet, some others) : Matrix: [@seirdy:seirdy.one](matrix:u/seirdy:seirdy.one "{class='u-impp u-url' rel='me'}") At least two platforms listed in the "Social (centralized)" category are not endorsed, and I'm trying to wind down my use of them. If you find a "Seirdy" somewhere else and don't know whether or not it's me, please contact me and ask instead of assuming that it must be me. I used to have the Matrix ID `@seirdy:envs.net`. I sometimes use `@seirdy:fairydust.space` for technical reasons (seirdy.one runs a Conduit server but certain features only work in Synapse rooms). If you want to follow me on the Fediverse, [read my Fediverse greeting first](../fediverse-greeting/) Poggies
Selected projects ----------------- ### [Clogstats](https://sr.ht/~seirdy/clogstats/) Analyze WeeChat logs to quantify, graph, forecast, and perform anomaly-detection on IRC channel activity. Written in Python; uses Pandas. ### [MOAC](https://sr.ht/~seirdy/MOAC/) Generate passwords and analyze password strength given physical limits to computing. Based on a weblog/gemlog entry: [Becoming physically immune to brute-force attacks](../posts/2021/01/12/password-strength/). Written in Go. Interests, preferences, et cetera --------------------------------- I ought to come up with more interests than these, but that sounds hard. ### Inclusive design I care a lot about accessibility, resource usage, and compatibility. My Web site may seem simple, but I put [almost 20 thousand words of thought into its design](../posts/2020/11/23/website-best-practices/) in an effort to maximize its inclusivity. This site should work well whether you're using Lynx, NetSurf, the Tor Browser with a screen reader, or a printout. Many people frame accessibility and compatibility in terms of "percentage of users impacted" to justify ignoring certain demographics. I find that this mindset somewhat discriminatory. I prefer framing concerns in terms of "populations excluded". I have some skin in the game: I rely on forced colors and use often use screen readers for web browsing. This is a really helpful measure to reduce overstimulation, given my anxiety and ADHD. I encourage others in similar situations to try these measures. ### Software freedom While I care very much about "free software" (the name is confusing, it refers to freedom rather than price), I don't share the same perspective as most "fossbros" and organizations like the FSF. Software freedom is important because it gives people agency instead of delegating control to an authority; it's not valuable in and of itself, and promoting a "FOSS" alternative that has vulnerabilities and accessibility issues is sometimes counterproductive. I think that simply meeting GNU's definition of free software isn't enough: it's one of multiple requirements for software to avoid the possibility of [user domestication](../posts/2021/01/27/whatsapp-and-the-domestication-of-users/). ### Other tech stuff I lean towards simplicity; I usually prefer line-mode command-line interfaces that follow the UNIX philosophy. If a piece of software is complex enough to require a funding round, I would rather avoid it. My reasons for preferring simplicity also relate to user autonomy: extremely complex software can't be forked easily, creating dependence on the vendor. It's also because I'm a bit paranoid and want to know everything that happens on my system. There are exceptions, of course: I use a Linux distro with Systemd (Fedora), after all. When I use a graphical program, it's typically for things for which graphics are an inherent requirement or for accessibility reasons (most textual user interfaces don't play well with screen readers). Some other software I use: Sway, mpv, mpd, Minetest, Neovim, tmux, newsboat, WeeChat, Foot, and zsh. More information is available in my [dotfiles repo](https://sr.ht/~seirdy/dotfiles); check its README. ### Anime I watch anime. Some of my favorites, in no particular order: - Code Geass - Mawaru Penguindrum - No Game No Life: Zero - Darling in the Franxx - Black Lagoon - Serial Experiments Lain - Saga of Tanya the Evil - Monogatari - Attack on Titan I think that at least one entry in that list has some problematic messages, but my personal interpretation was a bit unorthodox and it felt wrong to exclude it. ### Music I've put together a periodically-updated [list of tracks](../music.txt) that I've rated 8/10 or higher in my mpd stickers database, auto-generated by some of my [mpd-scripts](https://git.sr.ht/~seirdy/mpd-scripts/tree/master/smart-playlists). I'm a fan of glitch, trailer music, and symphonic and power metal; I've also recently been getting into Japanese rock thanks to a few anime openings. Some of my favorite artists are The Glitch Mob, Pretty Lights, Beats Antique, Hammerfall, Badflower, Celldweller and Scandroid, Helloween, Two Steps from Hell, Nightwish, Mili, and MYTH & ROID. Meta: other versions of this site --------------------------------- This website's canonical location is on seirdy.one. This page also exists on the [tildeverse](https://tildeverse.org/), a bunch of \*nix computers that let people sign up for shell accounts. A typical shell account features clients for IRC and email, common terminal/commandline utilities, and (most importantly) web hosting. Read about the tildeverse's [origins](https://web.archive.org/web/20180917091804/https://medium.com/message/tilde-club-i-had-a-couple-drinks-and-woke-up-with-1-000-nerds-a8904f0a2ebf), read [the FAQ](https://tilde.club/wiki/faq.html), pick [a tilde](https://tilde.club/%7Epfhawkins/othertildes.html) and [get started](https://tilde.club/~anthonydpaul/primer.html). My Tildeverse pages will serve as a "rough draft". Content on this site also appears on my Gemini capsule. My Web and Gemini content may be slightly different: I often phrase things differently to accommodate the strengths and weaknesses of each medium. I have a [Tor hidden Web service](http://wgq3bd2kqoybhstp77i3wrzbfnsyd27wt34psaja4grqiezqircorkyd.onion/ "{rel='alternate' class='u-syndication'}") which mirrors this site's contents, except for the fact that it replaces some SVGs with PNGs. Meta: featured in directories ----------------------------- This site is featured in some cool directories. ### Website minimalism - [10 KB Club](https://10kbclub.com/) - [no-JS Club](https://no-js.club/) - [XHTML Club](https://xhtml.club/) - [Hyperlinked Text](https://sjmulder.nl/en/textonly.html) ### Other directories - [Indieweb Webring Directory](https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/directory) - [Writer's Lane, Nightfall City](https://nightfall.city/writers-lane/) - [Just Another Useless Page](https://www.geocities.ws/jaup/jaup.htm) - [Webrings Fanlisting](https://fanlistings.nickifaulk.com/webrings/) - [Gossip's Web](https://gossipsweb.net/personal-websites)