SSC is hardly obscure. Seriously, you're going to go with that? It is one of the best blogs in the known universe. Just check out his influential essay that hits the nail on the head of why we have political polarization today.

NYT never was going to write an article about this obscure blogger

"Last week I talked to a New York Times technology reporter who was planning to write a story on Slate Star Codex. He told me it would be a mostly positive piece about how we were an interesting gathering place for people in tech, and how we were ahead of the curve on some aspects of the coronavirus situation. It probably would have been a very nice article.

"Unfortunately, he told me he had discovered my real name and would reveal it in the article, ie doxx me."

Why on Earth would anyone, in this day and age, defend the mainstream media? Particularly the New York Times, which is wealthy and powerful and can defend itself? You don't comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted, you've got it the wrong way round! You afflict the comfortable!