Well, I would certainly be the last person to tell you not to contribute more. I was surprised to see that it was stuck in the filter, but you got unlucky and had one of us scrutinize it in the small gap between post and explainer.
On Reddit, that would be a death sentence, but this forum is set up such that the front page evolves rather slowly. Very few potential eyeballs lost - no harm, no foul.
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
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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.
New post guidelines
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
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Notes -
Especially since there a lengthy gap between the post and the submission statement. I can understand that the others pattern matched in a bad way.
In the future, if you run into issues, please DM. I'll try and sort it out, since I value your presence here.
Sorry! I should have posted it at the time. Also serves me right for not posting enough here, and not writing frequently enough.
Well, I would certainly be the last person to tell you not to contribute more. I was surprised to see that it was stuck in the filter, but you got unlucky and had one of us scrutinize it in the small gap between post and explainer.
On Reddit, that would be a death sentence, but this forum is set up such that the front page evolves rather slowly. Very few potential eyeballs lost - no harm, no foul.
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