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PaperclipPerfector  23hr ago (text post)   692 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 28, 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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So, what are you reading?

I'm adding Lewis' The Screwtape Letters to my list.

Chains: Unbound Book 11 By Nicoli Gonnella.

edit: fixed the book title

Recently finished Card's Worthing Saga, which was interesting, though I was a bit disappointed by the ending.

I also read The Folding Knife, which was wonderful, though tragic.

Tried to start the series Manifest Delusions, but had to stop despite the cool premise because of the absolutely gratuitous nasty sex and violence. I really hate how common that is in modern fantasy.

Also just started The Courage to be Disliked.

Seven-eighths of the way through Cryptonomicon. Determined to finish it before the year is out, which means thirty-six pages a day.

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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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