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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3609 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 4, 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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Also avoiding giving out your number is obviously limiting nowadays, invest in a burner sim/phone?

Maybe, but this is literally the first time I've seen a site a) require my number and b) have no business whatsoever having my phone number. Most of the time, either it's optional (or it's a required field but they don't check if you put a real number in), or it's an organization that actually has legitimate reasons to have my phone number (e.g. my bank).

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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."

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