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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   4377 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 04, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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(Advance disclaimer: I'm new to The Motte, so this may be more appropriately posted elsewhere - please feel free to provide meta-feedback and advice for navigating this forum.)

I'm wondering about how this site is funded. Assuming enough volunteers with technical skills, the only cost would be that of hosting, which is presumably not much considering how cheap cloud infra is nowadays. That said, it's still nonzero, and I have the feeling that in order to protect the site, more scaling and hardening will be needed. I'd be happy to donate - I think this could be a great opportunity for financial transparency and an open discussion of money as it is used to support a truly non-profit tech endeavor. That said, there definitely may be drawbacks I'm not aware of.

A related question, are there any concerns over site integrity that we as the rank-and-file can help with? I assume reporting bad actors and using the vote system responsibly are a good start.

The full server infrastructure right now is around $50/mo, which I'm just paying out of pocket. I do plan to set up a donation system at some point, but 24 hours ago I couldn't - Reddit doesn't allow it - and I suspect I'm going to have more important things on my plate for a while.

A related question, are there any concerns over site integrity that we as the rank-and-file can help with? I assume reporting bad actors and using the vote system responsibly are a good start.

Yep, definitely a good start :)

If you're a coder, or visual designer, joining the development server and contributing would be helpful. Otherwise, post stuff that's good. The site doesn't work without people, and people don't show up without content.

If you want to go the extra mile, try posting links to the site, ideally to specific relevant posts, in communities with a similar tone. We really do need a source of fresh blood and that's going to be our biggest long-term struggle, I think.

Sounds great; happy to continue to engage and conscientiously socialize this forum's existence in other spaces where appropriate. I do software engineering and DevOps both at my day job and as a hobby, so I'd love to jump in and contribute to the development, but I'll have to check my contract first to make sure there's no virus in there for things I touch.

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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.


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