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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2933 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 29, 2025

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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Substack has a feature where the creator can view the original sources of any traffic to a particular blog.

So far, it was mostly a curiosity, I was used to seeing Reddit, or "Email", those being places where I'd personally shared my writing. I'm not sure what links posted on The Motte show up as, but presumably "Direct" since I strip out the usual tracking IDs out of courtesy.

My latest post did numbers, at least by baby Substack standards. I'd seen a decent amount of traffic from X, and the site's abysmal search did find someone of decent repute shouting it out. A few large Substack authors reblogged it to boot. Someone big even wants to interview me, though my desire for online pseudonymity might make that a no-go.

But then, when I checked back later today, I was immensely surprised to see Gwern in the list. I mean, he's a big name, but surely he doesn't have an independent listing? I dug in, and to my immense pride, I saw that my post had been deemed worthy of ending up as a link he'd rounded up on his personal site.

I'm very chuffed, but I find myself chagrined by the fact that the number of people I know IRL I can boast about this to round up to zero. The only way I could be more pleased is if it caught Scott's eye, but I've managed to achieve that once before so it's off the bucket list.

Motherfucking Gwern-senpai noticed me. I knew that obsessively tracking down links and literature reviews as well as digging into neurophysiology would pay off. Now I feel awful about not adding a dozen footnotes and citations :(

Anyone else ever catch the eye of their heroes?

I'm very chuffed, but I find myself chagrined by the fact that the number of people I know IRL I can boast about this to round up to zero.

I know the feeling all too well.

  • My latest post was restacked by this woman who applies data science principles to online dating. Kind of like a less overtly titillating Aella, and, in my view, far more physically attractive. I was flattered.
  • It was also restacked by Sarah Haider, whose name I vaguely recalled seeing previously and who has her own Wikipedia page, which is cool.
  • "Contra deBoer on transgender issues" was shared by Helen Joyce, I think it was shared by Eliza Mondegreen in a paid subscriber-only links roundup (she definitely liked it), and also liked by TracingWoodgrains and Freya India.
  • Freddie deBoer commenced one of his duh-of-course-I-support-trans-rights articles by quoting a comment I'd posted on one of his previous articles and ostentatiously announcing how "profoundly uncompelling" he found said comment, in a tone which to me strongly suggested he doth protest too much.

The only way I could be more pleased is if it caught Scott's eye

I shared my latest post on the Slate Star Codex subreddit, and Scott showed up in the comments to complain about how I'd characterised him in the article. I dutifully apologised and rephrased the offending passage. In the list of things that made me feel ashamed of myself this year, this was in the top five.

I shared my latest post on the Slate Star Codex subreddit, and Scott showed up in the comments to complain about how I'd characterised him in the article. I dutifully apologised and rephrased the offending passage. In the list of things that made me feel ashamed of myself this year, this was in the top five.

My condolences. If that happened to me, I'd be driven to drink.

Kind of like a less overtly titillating Aella, and, in my view, far more physically attractive.

(Presumedly) white men really not beating the allegations!

(She is pretty, but I found this particular photo profoundly disturbing. To be fair, now that I actually opened it, it's AI generated on purpose)

(Presumedly) white men really not beating the allegations!

It was game over as soon as I watched Mulan.

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