The appellation is in some part due to his custom of writing monographs for himself titled EWD-n[1]. They are a fascinating mix of deep mathematical and philosophical insight and curmudgeonly reflective essaying.

[1] https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/

> writing monographs for himself

One might almost call it a "blog" if it weren't for the fact that EWD started ~35 years before Frontier NewsPage.