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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Notes -
It's interesting to ask why it should be bothersome when you feel that someone is "monopolizing" the site with posts you don't like. It certainly is bothersome, I won't deny that. But it's not clear why it should be. The site has an in principle unlimited amount of server space. It's not a zero sum game. One person posting a thread you don't like doesn't prevent you or other people from posting threads that are more to your liking.
There are certain popular genres of threads here that bore me to tears (mainly the policy wonk posts, and the posts that get into obsessive minutiae regarding current events). But I know that by the same token, there are people who hate the types of posts that I like to produce and read as well (borderline schizophrenic free associative rants about philosophy and psychology). If I start harping on people for writing posts I don't like, then I know that they can just turn that around and say "well we don't like what you're trying to turn themotte into either". So I generally just try to keep my mouth shut when there's a post I don't like and I just ignore it or collapse the thread.
I suppose that although the site in principal has space for an unlimited number of threads, it only really has space for one dominant culture, and in this sense it is more zero sum. The fear could be that threads you don't like will attract the types of posters that you don't like, which will over time shift the culture in a direction that makes the site less valuable to you.
My answer in two parts.
First while there is unlimited server space, there is not unlimited share of posts. That is zero sum. If someone posts enough proportionally they have a bigger effect on the culture and tone of the board.
Consider ad absurdem a sleepy friend group chat where people occasionally post life updates, coordinate events, or made small jokes. One day somebody starts dialing up the posting with personal drama and political screeds. Nobody is afraid they will run out of space. But the character of the group chat is compromised.
Selfmade has noticeably dialed up his proportion of theMottes engagement (which is a function also of this place kind of cooling off possibly unrecoverable). More and more it feels like self made’s spot. Which I said is FINE. He can do that regardless of how I receive it.
But the second part is extending that into also knocking down any loose structure that keeps the site gardened. It comes off as flaunting that he can swing his voice around the site for his own amusement and break down any even superficial sense of organization
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I don't really get it either, and it's not something that's worth policing 99% of the time. We eventually crack down on blatant single-issue posting, especially if it is obnoxious, but that's a high bar.
We have a button to collapse threads. We have a block button. The last is a nuclear option, but the former? Just use that to skip past what you don't care for.
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