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InfrequentPoster

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InfrequentPoster


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
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				Transnational Thursday for October 23, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Czech Parliamentary Elections of 2025


On 3rd and 4th of October there were Parliamentary Elections in the Czech Republic. As I was too busy IRL to even place bets, I have decided to do a results review. It has gotten a little late for that also. But today is our Independence Day so I decided to celebrate by writing about our elections.


First and foremost Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy - think Germany, not US or France. The president is not as important as the Prime minister. So of all the elections these ones probably matter the most as the 200 elected individuals will vote on who will be the members of the next cabinet.


Second, a caveat: I voted for ODS, always had and likely will in the foreseeable future. I will not try to claim that I am impartial. But I will also add that a lot of their voters vote out of civic duty to vote for “lesser evil”. Even though they are angry at many things they did.


Third, some interesting features that may or may not become important later. In order to get into the Parliament your party has to get at least 5% of the vote. Any less and you don't get any seats. Third b) while the word coalition is typically used when forming a cabinet to describe the several parties working together (achieving 50% for one party is mostly unexpected), it is also used as a synonym for electoral alliance.
This is interesting because it used to be that a two party coalition had to have 10%, three party 15% etc. But the limits were lowered a bit. And this year the Constitutional Court (basically Supreme Court) said it is OK to cheat it by having candidates from both (or more parties) in one party’s list of candidates.
And these are especially interesting as each voter can give 3 preferential votes for individual people. This means that inside these electoral coalitions there is fierce competition.


Now I will try to break down the relevant parties. As you will see, they do not easily break down into traditional left-right divides and I hope some of these combinations will confuse you.


ANO


ANO (literally YES, from the original slogan ‘Yes, it will get better!’). This is a party of Andrej Babiš. He is described as a businessman. While technically true he got rich during Privatization (after the fall of communism the government owned businesses were sold, given to people etc.) likely due to some insider info from his work during communist regime. And his main business is in agriculture (Agrofert) - that is he is heavily reliant on subsidies. Fun fact: his net worth was estimated higher than Trump’s when he was in office and Trump was out. This has likely reversed, totally coincidentally, during the years when he was out of office…


Why am I talking about him and not the political party? Well it is his party, sometimes jokingly described as the political division of Agrofert. And it is also important to understand this party's politics. On wikipedia it is described as right wing or right wing populist. And populist it for sure is. Most easily characterized by his hard critical stance on the EU at home on television while being part of the most basic EU group (ALDE) in EU parliament. This makes sense as he needs to cause no problems lest the EU may stop its funds into the Czech Republic. But he also needs to pander to his euroskeptic voters to have power locally.


But I would describe it as left-wing because he is for more government involvement. E.g. his party is very strong among old people collecting pensions. And pensions are paid (semi-)directly by the government (a relic of communism as no one had the balls to reform it in the last 30 years). He is for increasing pensions, increasing bunch of other spending while magically not needing to make taxes higher. This magic is called government debt…
Strongly for Andrej Babiš, and for EU and NATO at least in actions.


SPOLU


SPOLU (literally TOGETHER) is a coalition of 3 parties.


ODS


ODS (Občanská Demokratická Strana, in english: Civic Democratic Party) is a liberal-conservative party (wikipedia lists only conservatism). I would have described them as a mix between GOP and Democrats. This party alone probably has members that have positions of mainstream politicians in the US from both parties.
It is probably the only party that at least pays lip service to the economic right wing. But it sometimes feels a little toothless - especially in the now ending cabinet. Strongly for NATO, for Ukraine and for (but critical of) the EU.


KDU-ČSL


KDU-ČSL (Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová, in english Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party) is THE Christian party for czech voters. I would have described them as Christian Center (maybe even Left, wikipedia says centre to centre-right…). They hover around the 5% necessary for electibility but manage to get excellent results thanks to very loyal voters and large party membership.
For the EU (part of the European People’s Party), for NATO and for Ukraine.


TOP 09


TOP 09 (Tradice Odpovědnost Prosperita, lit. 'Tradition Responsibility Prosperity; honestly I doubt most people know this) emerged as an offshoot of KDU-ČSL in 2009. Personally it feels like ODS but significantly more pro EU. And paying even less if any lip service to economic right.
It is sometimes described as a party for “city liberals” (or in Czech: “Prague Cafe”). It is also hovering around 5%.


STAN


STAN (Starostové a nezávislí, in english: Mayors and Independents; also coincidentally meaning TENT) is a party that originated from local politics. On wikipedia it is described as center to center-right. Very for the EU, for NATO, for Ukraine.
But they feel more center-left. Mainly because their leader takes the issue with muslim immigrant criminality in neighboring countries lightly. I honestly believe that a lot of their voters think about them as much more right than they truly are in practice.


Pirates


Piráti (Czech Pirates Party) is described as center to center-left on wikipedia. And they are basically progressives and liberals. Very for the EU, less enthusiastically for NATO and for Ukraine. They were trying hard to make themselves seem normal and not too progressive. But they put some Greens in their List of candidates. (See the Constitutional Court approved hack). And Greens are a party absolutely no one cares about - except maybe journalists.


Motoristé


Motoristé sobě (Motorists for Themselves, abbr. AUTO, yes literally meaning CAR) is a new party. As the name suggests they are basically anti Green Deal. Especially against ban on motor vehicles with combustion engines, against ETS2 and a lot of other weird EU shenanigans. They are, as the name suggests, a half-meme party. Their Leader (Filip Turek) is a redpill/alpha male podcaster type. He did a Nazi Salute from a car, collects SS knives and has terrible humor on social media.
Other significant members tried to pivot (successfully I think) to be perceived as economic right-wing, made sure that criticism of the EU is not perceived as a way of trying to sway to Russia but rather trying to be more like the USA. And trying to brand themselves as harder (more old-school?) ODS - conservative, euroskeptic, economically liberal but also firmly placed in western institutions like NATO and EU.
Instead of being perceived as SPD 2


SPD


SPD (Svoboda a přímá demokracie, Freedom and Direct Democracy; not to be confused with German SPD) is described as far-right by Wikipedia and it is led by half-Korean from Japan… Tomio Okamura. I am ok with it being described as far right. You obviously can't expect any form of economic right. Their position is in the opposition where they complain that the government is not doing enough for its people… So they are definitely for bigger government. But otherwise they are anti-immigration, eurosceptic, etc…
Their issue is - lack of quality people. Cynically I would say that Tomio Okamura is in it for the money. And similarly to ANO, there is no opposition inside the party to him. I personally doubt that he even wants to be part of the cabinet. He just wants to be in the opposition, complain a lot about the issues and collect a paycheck. I think he must know that while he can complain about the issues he might not have any good solutions.
For a referendum about EU membership (that's where the direct democracy comes from) maybe even NATO. But as there is no demand for the referendum elsewhere even if they would be held I do not think it would endanger our membership. Not anti-Ukraine per se but “for Czechs” that likely means cutting support for Ukraine as it is deemed unnecessary. And some of its voters may be explicitly for Russia but their members exclaim at most, some kind of ambivalent position…
BTW in fear of losing relevance they put some other small national parties (with no chance of getting 5%) on their list of candidates.


Stačilo!


Stačilo! (Enough!) are left to far left according to wikipedia… They are COMMUNISTS. Literally. Self-described. Not some “postmodern marxists” but the same party that ruled here during communism…
Ok well technically it is a coalition (using the hack approved by court, so they only need 5%) of traditional (now irrelevant, because their voters were taken by ANO) left wing party ČSSD (and their of-shoot Social Democracy) and several other irrelevant left-wing parties.
But it is lead by KSČM (Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy, Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia) that is also described by left-wing to far-left by wikipedia. Now come on! If there is some party that is unambiguously far left it may be the party that ruled here during communism.
The leader of this “party” is Kateřina Konečná. She is quite capable of compromise both in EU parliament and in creating this unified left-wing block. Funnily enough it is said that if Czech businesses need something with EU parliament she is a go to person.


Probably the only party that seriously questions NATO membership. Not as seriously questioning EU membership. Ambivalent in the Ukraine - Russia conflict. Before the war they would present as more for Russian (likely due to nostalgia for Soviet times) but since then they have mellowed. Definitely far-left, definitely not progressive, some would even say conservative.


Results


Who would you choose in such a varied landscape? Well the Czechs chose as follows:


    

  • ANO - 80 seats
    • 

  • SPOLU - 52 seats (28 ODS ( including one ex-pirate), 16 KDU-ČSL, 9 TOP 09)
    • 

  • STAN - 22 seats
    • 

  • Piráti - 18 seats (16 Pirates, 2 Greens) [2 men and 16 woman btw]
    • 

  • SPD - 15 seats (11 SPD (including 1 independent) ,2 Svobodní, 1 PRO, 1 Trikolóra)
    • 

  • Motoristé - 13 seats
    • 

  • Stačilo! - 0 seats (only 4.3% of votes)
    • 



The big message of these results is that the Czech voter saw (rebranded) communists polling at 6-7% and said ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT and cast a vote for someone else. This is one thing that gives me optimism for the future. Now the votes cast may not have been the wisest but the results are OK. I will list who are the losers and winners of these elections, further trajectory and (most importantly) who will be making the next cabinet and what to expect from it.


Losers


    

  • Stačilo! this will hopefully put the communist party firmly in history. And they will not crawl from their grave again.
    • 

  • SPD - lost a lot of voters (ANO, Motoristé or even Stačilo!) even though they absorbed some smaller parties. Worse yet members of these parties took precious sets in the parliament
    • 

  • ODS - as KDU-ČSL and TOP09 would likely not get into parliament alone (under 5%) but they take almost half the seats of SPOLU. This means ODS is effectively helping them… That is understandable if they can achieve well together. But it does not seem so. Also in order to hold this coalition together (and the now ending cabinet with STAN (and Pirates)) they have quite weaken their euroskepticism and economic right wing, even conservatism…
    • 

  • Male Pirates - as I have written earlier the voters have the power to cast 3 preferential votes. And there has been a campaign (not affiliated with Pirates or any party to be honest) to cast them in support of women, because they have quite low representation in parliament.
Well Pirates have the most progressive voter base and they embraced this campaign. Resulting in a funny result where there are only 2 seats given to men (one is the party leader, the other was the party leader basically since the party's inception).
Funny thing is: this is an improvement since last time. They were running in coalition with STAN and got only 2 seats total. Despite polling similarly or even higher than these elections.
    • 



Performed as expected


STAN, TOP09 and in some sense KDU-ČSL


Winners


    

  • KDU-ČSL - their loyal voters allow them to really get the best out of the SPOLU brand with their preferential votes
    • 

  • Greens - for a party that does not get out of “Others” category in polls, getting 2 seats is a good result.
    • 

  • Motoristé - they were able to enter parliament despite being a half-meme and new-ish party in a small c conservative country. This is a very good result. They milked the Green Deal as much as they could. And managed to pull disappointed ODS voters (a lot of ODS voters are disappointed by something) who wanted more conservatism, euroscepticism, a freer market etc.
    • 

  • ANO - obviously the winner of the elections and the next prime minister Andrej Babiš. He was very happy with the elections. Well at least until he had to start creating the new cabinet.
    • 



Since ANO has only 80 seats it will need a partner to form a cabinet. Or at least someone who will vote for their minority cabinet. I am not sure what Andrej Babiš was hoping for but my biggest fear was ANO + SPD + stačilo!. It may seem unlikely because it is far-right + far-left but I definitely saw it as a possibility.
Right now there is really only one possibility: ANO + SPD + AUTO. As the so called demo-block (“democratic parties”), ODS, KDU-ČSL, TOP09, STAN, and Pirates, are all opposed to working with ANO. And ANO is opposed to working with them. SPOLU’s entire brand is to be anti-Babiš. Worked great last time when he was prime minister. Not so much now.


The current prime minister Petr Fiala, leader of ODS and SPOLU, has already said he plans to give up his position as the leader and ODS will vote on new leaders early next year. We will see what wing of ODS will take power next. But I feel a lot of members feel like Motoristé should not exist - these should be voting for ODS. Personally I feel that the SPOLU brand is coming to an end. This just makes ODS more like TOP09 and that party is hovering under 5%. I expect a shift toward more conservatism and more economically right wing policies and especially more euroscepticism.


Did not hear similar sentiments from KDU-ČSL or TOP09, their voting on their leaders is early next year or late this year. But both were quite successful but there may be other wings in their parties who may think otherwise.
STAN will likely stay on course. Similarly Pirates - their current and ex leader worked in unison these elections and the results are ok. So there is unlikely to be any dissenting view demanding the leaders give up their positions. But I wonder if the other men, the ones that got skipped by women, will not become bitter. Quietly withdraw, lower their effort or leave the Pirate party.


So far the negotiations seem like the SPD have folded easily. Getting President of the Chamber of Deputies for Tomio Okamura and some "independent experts” (that is ones approved by ANO but also SPD) for 3 ministries. Seemed liked ok as they do not feel very strong and may have internal issues on deciding who should be nominated. But the ministries are:


    

  • Defense (very important for obvious reasons),
    • 

  • transport (important, roads are expensive as hell),
    • 

  • agriculture (surprising given Babiš’s background).
    • 



And Motoristé seem to be able to negotiate following ministries:


    

  • Foreign Affairs - with a possible spicy pick of Filip Turek. I am not sure the guy with edgy dark humor who is 40 is the right pick for the position of diplomat…
    • 

  • Culture - honestly seems unimportant
    • 

  • Environment  - a lot of people are surprised by this. But it seems like a very logical pick. Active or accidental incompetency in this position is exactly what their voters want. And unlike unlike transport, where failure to build roads is very visible, there is hard to tell how effective they were
    • 

  • And new ministry of sport, prevention and health - seems like just getting some guy a position, not sure what other motives may be here
    • 



And ANO gets to keep:


    

  • Prime minister - Andrej Babiš obviously
    • 

  • Ministry of finance Finance - logical pick, if you cannot get you need to have budget under control
    • 

  • Ministry of Industry and Trade
    • 

  • Ministry of Health Care
    • 

  • Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports - that is why the new ministry for Motorists does not make any sense to me. Both Sports and healthcare already exist and this will create overlapping agendas.
    • 

  • Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
    • 

  • Ministry of the Interior - actually important, has police and some secret services…
    • 

  • Ministry of Justice
    • 

  • Ministry of Regional Development
    • 



I will conclude that I do not have high expectations of this newly forming cabinet. I will likely not be proven wrong. Membership in NATO and EU is not endangered. I welcome some amount of euroscepticism, though I doubt Babiš is strong enough to do more than to complain. We will likely get into more debt (we had even in this current cabinet). But Motorists are presenting themselves as winners and hopefully this will at least a little influence the cabinet to not be totally socialist. We will see how hard they can negotiate with ANO or how serious they are about what they say.


Apologies for such a long post, had I had more time I would have shortened it. Questions are welcome, and so is criticism of my characterization of people or parties, grammar, or formatting.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 12, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
When you say




You know, maybe that would be good advice if the circumstances were different, but you have to remind yourself that picking up 30 year old women who have had multiple partners is signing up for a high divorce rate and possibly raising the children of others.




I think you are misreading what OP said:




find a man who sticks with you for several years (while you are on the pill, and proving he is not a cad), and finally, around 30, get married to a man you TRUST to support you and your children.




The "ideal" state described is not waiting till 30 and then figuring out who to pick. It is to pick around University and stick with your choice. The children (and marriage) wait until the woman feels safe both by herself (that is she has education and a job to support herself and potential children, if something were to happen to her bf/husband) and with her bf/husband. That is he proves that he is reliable etc.


This is certainly not ideal when it comes to having (especially many) kids. The biological window is limited (not only for women).
But it is a perfectly rational choice of action fo women if you want to mitigate the risk of having a terrible husband who will not treat you well.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thank you very much, exactly what I was looking for! I was looking through internet archive version of /r/themotte but did not consider /r/slatestarcodex
Obvious in retrospect as I suspected that the term originated with Scott.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 11, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I feel like I am misremembering some old version of  the rules of this place. The term is "enlightened Buddha principle". It meant something along the lines of: each post has to meet at least 2 out of 3. And I think one was kind, another was necessary, third I am unsure.
The sentiment is still present in the rules.


I tried searching but Buddha and enlightenment are such a strong keywords that it overrides most results.
LLMs proved useful. And I found Socrates triple filter test:


    

  1. Is it true?
    2. 

  2. Is it necessary (or useful)?
    3. 

  3. Is it kind (spoken with goodwill)?
    4. 



If a statement can't pass all three it shall not be spoken (posted). So that seems to be close. But it lacks the 2 out of 3 part.


So my question is whether there was such rule? If it was called that? Or am I only misremembering while keeping with the general sentiment?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 12, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I had similar thoughts as you a while back. And I have decided against it. Although I do not lack community as much as you seem to. Personally, if you do not think you are capable of belief I think you shouldn't go there. Or at least not with the idea of it being permanent.


You may ask you friend to show it to you. But make it clear you are probably not gonna be religious. And may be you may find some folks who you befriend and then you do stuff with them outside of church?


I have attended a theological seminar instead of church. By the way it was majority atheist I think. It was very interesting. As a life long atheist I learned a lot about Church, faith, bible etc. But it had no affect on my faith. And in some cases the beliefs of religious people felt so alien to me. I learned that even though I usually agreed with them broadly, the reasoning or something felt a little off.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 25, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Most of which I had not thought of. But I found out I am too busy IRL to try the cool sounding suggestions like custom sqlite database or perosnal wiki. I will try Mendeley/Zotero/Pocket to see if like it. Also good point on browser history being quite useful. But I do not have it synchronised acroos mutliple devices. I should at least try to back it up.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 25, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I sometimes see people ask here for some old blogpost or comments they have read and cannot find - and someone usually answers. There is obviously a certain advantage of asking a group of people - only one needs to remember and it seems that the group remembers. But I feel like some organization and order would help me personally to find stuff I already "know". Does anyone here have some good system/workflow for saving great content from here or some blogs?


I would like to use it as some form of "extended memory". Essentially I want something where I have link to the original, its title and a few words through which I can find it (for example ctrl+f) - could be a short description and/or some tags. And some excerpt (or ideally archive of the content). It should hopefully also last for a long time (and thus be sufficiently scalable)


Previously I have used browser bookmarks, Obsidian (basically a few markdown files) and just pasting the links in private discord channel. Bookmarks are not quite scalable and not that well searchable. Obsidian is probably closest to what I am looking for but only searching tens of files is timeconsuming.


Right now I am thinking of using some kind of txt file. Longevity guaranteed, ctrl+f for searchability. With some simple version of csv so it can be navigated by scripts. Do you have some cool strategy for keeping you reading list? Or do you just rely on your memory?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 25, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No problem. I was hoping that my thread would get approved but I did not get lucky.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 25, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Note to the charging cords: Countries have different wall sockets. So buy a new charger or a converter if necessary.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 25, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I sometimes see people ask here for some old blogpost or comments they have read and cannot find - and someone usually answers. There is obviously a certain advantage of asking a group of people - only one needs to remember and it seems that the group remembers. But I feel like some organization and order would help me personally to find stuff I already "know". Does anyone here have some good system/workflow for saving great content from here or some blogs?


I would like to use it as some form of "extended memory". Essentially I want something where I have link to the original, its title and a few words through which I can find it (for example ctrl+f) - could be a short description and/or some tags. And some excerpt (or ideally archive of the content).  It should hopefully also last for a long time (and thus be sufficiently scalable)


Previously I have used browser bookmarks, Obsidian (basically a few markdown files) and just pasting the links in private discord channel. Bookmarks are not quite scalable and not that well searchable. Obsidian is probably closest to what I am looking for but only searching tens of files is timeconsuming.


Right now I am thinking of using some kind of txt file. Longevity guaranteed, ctrl+f for searchability. With some simple version of csv so it can be navigated by scripts. Do you have some cool strategy for keeping you reading list? Or do you just rely on your memory?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 18, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For follwing ALL new comments you can use https://www.themotte.org/comments but I am not sure if it is possible to somehow filter to specific post. It is probably a feature that does not exist. I just use the highlighitng new comments feature to visually check if I see something new in the threads I was interested in. But that requires quite a bit of scrolling by the end of the week.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for September 21, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Why would it make your life worse? "Practice makes perfect" may be a little too optimistic but practice is definitely necessary for improvement. So if you are unhappy with your posts writing more may be necessary. If you are too embarassed by your comment you may just keep it in your "writing drawer". But I remember Zorba said something along the lines of "if in doubt post it". What is the worst thing that can happen? If it is against the rules the mods will tell you. And if people don't like it they may leave a critiquing comment (that may actually help you improve).


I on the other hand try to post only what I think is necessary. I feel like my writing is not on par with what I enjoy reading here. Maybe I do not have interesting or unique insights and knwoledge. And maybe I am just not that talented at writing. That is fine. I am here because I enjoy it (and maybe a bit of addiction too). But there are more important things in life than having the most coolest comments on an internet discussion forum. So once again: Why would it make you life worse?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for September 21, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This was beautifully written! I feel more optimistic about life just by reading this. The happiness almost radiates from your writing, well done!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Why Beliveing Untrue Things is Often Good
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think we live in time when even the most original ideas out there were probably already written by someone on the Internet. Especially if they make sense or are important.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Thoughts on internet addiction
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Read-Logging: I've done this for a few months at a time a few years ago. I logged every article I read with a short summary, from 1 to five sentences. Maybe more if I really liked it. This dramatically improved the value I got back while reducing the skimming I did, but I found it mentally draining.




I have done similar thing but only briefly. But I regret I did not continue it. My memory is probably worse then average, so writing something about an article makes me remember it better. But it is indeed mentally draining. That should theoretically incentivise me to read only that which is worth the effort. But that is sadly only known after I have already read it. So in practice I stopped.


But I will try to go back to writing short summaries as well as responding more on the Motte. Not only do I remember things better. But writing things down is a little different than just thinking the ideas in your head. And my in turn improve/change my thinking.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Thoughts on internet addiction
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I don't support the use of strategies like apps....




I have felt similarly to this but recently I am thinking it is a wrong way to approach this. My thoughts in random order.


    

  1. 

    If you were a weak man wouldn't it be better to cover your eyes instead of relying on your strength that you know will fail you?
    

    2. 

  2. 

    When you consider improving physical weakness you do not start with deadlifting a car. You would slowly increase the strength required. These apps etc might be used as a stepping stone. And only when you are strong enough you can ditch them.
    

    3. 

  3. 

    Maybe for some people cutting the internet might be impossible without apps and possible with them. And if someone who can't see without glasses refuses to wear them because it would make him weak it does not make him strong. It makes him a fool.
    

    4. 



Acknowledging your weaknesses and getting over or around them is true strength.


(I feel like I am dancing around some idea and failing to express it correctly and concisely. But in writing this I might have convinced myself. Might give some apps or other techniques another go. The main reason I do not use them now is because when I tried it did not seem to work for me. But there might be something out there that might. And if it exist it is definitely worth finding.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
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There is an option in settings where you can set it to convert all links to Twitter or all links to nitter. So you can set it to your liking. It is missing an option of no conversion though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
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This is a recent change. See https://www.themotte.org/post/30/bugs-suggestions-small-comments-and-site/3975?context=8#context


Almost everyone thought it makes it easier to tell apart top level posts.


But a better solution might be to give them a different color depending on depth. For example shades of gray from white to black. Someone already mentioned it here: https://www.themotte.org/post/30/bugs-suggestions-small-comments-and-site/4612?context=8#context


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
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The single thread is at least semi intentional. I personally find it quite inuitive to navigate. But thats maybe because I am used to it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
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And things are still being organized in the same terrible way as /r/ssc when they were trying to quarantine the culture war from the rest of the sub.




This is at least semi-intentional. Explained by Zorba




It is an unnecessary slog if you are looking for something and don't have a link




Yes it is hard to find something you don't have link for. I've done that many times and sometimes even successfully . I think the solution is to have some good personal way of saving stuff you liked. Even if you had the thread split into posts the ammount of content you would have to search through would not change. So I doubt it would make things easier to find.




First, I'd like to see a webpage highlighting quality contributions and other content from the forum. Something that I can easily link a friend to rather than a nested comment in response to some insane person ranting "There's a man inside me!"




It alredy exist for AAQC. And has existed for quite some time. It could be more integrated into the new site I suppose. But for linking purposes it is great.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
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I personally like that top level posts are now visually distinct and the horizontal line that separates them. In the current design I always need to double check if it is a top level post or a first level comment to the previous top level post.