I am facing a domain name organization problem.
Currently, my main website is at kechpaja.com, where this blog is hosted and quite a few other random projects of mine live. Ignoring domains associated with projects that clearly deserve (or at least benefit from) their own independent web space, the primary exception is my political blog at puujalkavihrea.fi, which I consciously separated from the rest of my web presence when a small amount of pondering suggested that the overlap between people interested in technology and conlanging and those interested in hearing Finland-centric political takes might be on the small side.
Now, before moving on, it is worthwhile to note the history of the username kechpaja. It is ultimately derived from my birth name, and over the years during which I knew that that wasn't the name I wanted to carry but didn't have anything better, I actively used kechpaja in any place that would tolerate something more like a username than a name name. While it is hard to say how I will feel in five or ten years, I cannot at present imagine actually letting go of it; it is too much a part of my personal history and too deeply entwined in my web presence.
I do, however, also own keiwynn.com, my "real name" domain, and I want to use it. What I am still trying to figure out, though, is what for, given that I already have a functional web presence that I would be loathe to relinquish.
One option — perhaps the most obvious — is not to change anything that is already there, and just add keiwynn.com as a new, more "human" personal site. I would presumably put actual face pictures there, and try for a more "modern" design, intended to appeal to those who see the command line as arcane magic and think my existing sites look skeletel or antiquated. Under this scheme, keiwynn.com becomes my new "personal" site, and kechpaja.com becomes my web place, where I put "impersonal" information such as tech and business-y things and store random projects that just have to be somewhere but are not intrinsically related to me as a person.
This option has great appeal for me, but I am unsure whether it is sufficiently legible to anyone who has not experienced the same sort of history. I am also not sure where the dividing line lies between the sort of material that would belong on each site under this scenario, and I know that I would probably spend too much time answering that question whenever I encountered something not clear-cut.
The other option is, of course, a simple redirect, as I have long done with the domain corresponding to my now-deadname. This feels like a cop out, though, or as if I am missing out on a chance to truly be myself. I would rather not resort to this option, even if it means that potential readers or employers find my web presence slightly harder to grasp.
Given that this is primarily a programming and technology oriented blog, and I do not usually share anything particularly personal here, it has not been an easy decision to publish something like this. However, this quandry also lies firmly at the intersection of identity and technology, and it would be a shame to conclude that I could not share it here. And I doubt I am the only person ever to face this problem.
Suggestions?