Note that I'm only talking about this under isolated, easy-to-burn nym myself. Wouldn't do it if there were any link to irl - that would be bad. Security and obscurity combined is a good thing. I think it's to be expected as an outsider that you do not know what opsec is in place though; that's ok.

I also don't know what kinds of digital opsec other devs use - and especially not core maintainers because I never talk to any of the currently active ones - or how they protect themselves.

But that's also not what I'm looking for. I'm actually looking to reduce opsec pressure: an operator of a tor hidden service has no means to find a location on their connecting clients unless they operate some massive dragnet of prior hops that may or may not be connected through all the way (i.e. the operator is literally the feds.) This means that opsec focus can be spent on other things, productive things.

The worst situation you can be in is having to look over your shoulder (or your family members' shoulders) all day every day. It sucks and it is counter-productive.