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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   Edited 1yr ago   7069 thread views

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How long until Julius Bronson finds this place? There have been a few other bad actors the Motte has come across as well (e.g. vintology). Has there been any thought about how to handle them if they were to show up? Should their permabans be continued here or this a chance for everyone to have a fresh start?

Why does he strike such fear into the heart of rationalists? Just ignore him and downvote

Truthfully, I thought he could be funny at times. I think most users found that he wasn't arguing in good faith (he never actually addressed specific counter arguments) and he gave a weird, negative image to the place.

I think fretting about the latter issue was silly but some seem to care (and is it unwarranted given that we are now on a diaspora from reddit?).

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.


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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).

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