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What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.

Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.

New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!

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Moderation Log

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@naraburns removed post Lens Testing Equipment Market Global Opportunities, CAGR Status, Company Profiles, Regional Demand and Future Insights by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Cnc Routers For Engraving Market – Regional Outlook, Growth and Share Analysis by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Process Automation & Instrumentation Market Growth Strategies, Opportunity, Challenges, Rising Trends and Revenue Analysis by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Industrial Heaters Market Analysis, Growth, Vendors, Shares, Drivers, Challenges with Forecast by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Archery Product Market In-Depth Research Report by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Digital Logistics Consulting Market Technology Advancements by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Submarine Optical Fiber Cable Market: Key companies Profile, their Share and Other Important Parameters by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post UHF RFID Reader Market: Macro-economic Factors Analysis, Economic Outlook, Segments Share Analysis, Scenario Forecast by 2028

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Toward a principles-based approach to societal flourishing

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post The Real and Final Enlightenment

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Reddit-killer arrived. Let the information economy begin!

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post In HBD, what is the proposed mechanism for the rise of racial group intelligence differences?

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post High unemployment while having high job vacancies - Universal government funded education

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Friday Fun Thread

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post This is a "day after" overview of which legacy news orgs think that the first Twitter Files drop can be considered "news". Of a survey of 29 of the largest legacy news sources of record from around the world about arguably the biggest story of alleged corruption (and possibly even sedition) by the US government, 7 mentioned it at all and 22 ignored it completely.

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post The ethics of AI-generated porn

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Impassionata is a nigger

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Anatomy of Female Power

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Turkish Cult Leader who Introduced New Earth Creationism to the Region Receives Thousands of Years of Prison

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Meeting with a lonely young sailor

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Of The Based and The Cringe

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Hypothesis on Paul Pelosi Attack

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Wellness Wednesday for September 28, 2022

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Wellness Wednesday Thread for the Week of September 28th, 2022

2yr ago

@naraburns removed post Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 25, 2022

2yr ago

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