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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   2421 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 16, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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It’s a current trend on TikTok / Instagram to post pictures of yourself from 2016. Next month, in early February, we will celebrate our own 10th anniversary of the Culture War Thread. What are we doing to mark the occasion?

Scott made his request for a culture war thread on Feb 14th of 2016 https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/02/14/ot43-roses-are-thread/

This is one of the oldest culture war threads I could find from reddit (and it might actually be the oldest):

https://old.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/470zk9/culture_war_roundup_for_the_week_of_february_22/

It is weird seeing comments from myself in the thread. About a third of the usernames in there are deleted. Some of the other ones I hovered over are suspended. No one else I could find from there is over here on themotte. Was anyone else there for the inception of the culture war threads? Did you just have a different username back then?

I can't help but feel old. But I was young then and am arguably still young now. My opinions have hilariously not changed an inch from back then. I guess that could be good or bad.

Hm. Looks like my first CWR post was August 2016, though I'd posted on the SSC subreddit (and a little on the website, though seldom in the open threads) before then.

Churn in a community isn't unusual, though I'll admit the drivers of churn here are different than in other environments.

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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!

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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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