The WordPress Half-Elf Rogue

A blog about code, open source technology, open data, and mindful development practices.

Code What Matters

Risk exists in all things, and only by understanding can we create a better Internet for ourselves and the future. Write code that matters, be that to yourself or the world, but think about the worst things people can (and will) do with it…

Find What You Want

With over 1000 posts, about WordPress, technology, servers, and ethics, you can teach yourself anything.

Get It Emailed

Better than elf on a shelf is an elf in your email. Sign up and get the latest posts. No creepy spying.

Mika (実佳) Ariela Epstein is better known as Ipstenu, the WordPress Half-Elf Rogue.

Passionate about code, open source technology, open data, and mindful development practices, Mika may watch a lot of TV but it’s for a good cause. You can find Mika travelling internationally to speak about the intersection of software, fandom, and humanism.

A unicorn with a rainbow horn on a bule background.

A lot of people like to say thank you for the time I volunteer in WordPress, the things I do, and just being me. People like that helped me change my career trajectory and move to California.

I do like coffee.


  • oEmbedding Galleries

    Why make a complicated, UX fussy, WordPress plugin when I could just make oEmbed a thing?

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  • Hugo Deployment via GitHub Actions

    Using GitHub actions to build and deploy a static site is fun.

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  • FreshRSS: A Simpler Self Hosted RSS Manager

    I’ve been using Tiny Tiny RSS for … well years. Almost a decade. I like it a lot, the interface is nice and pretty to use. But there have always been some serious lingering issues with it. The developer is very opinionated, to the point of aggression The development is Docker, to the point that…

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