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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026

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Nothing unsportmanslike about keeping your dribble while someone attempts a reach-in.

I’ve had private mode on the majority of time I’ve been registered here; never turned it off after turning it on initially. If one can make claims about my comment history without the most convenient way to “systematically look through” it, one can back it up too likewise.

Come to think of it, so far the greatest unsportsmanlike conduct I’ve seen in this chain is your drive-by attempt at shaming and moving the goalposts from “exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter” to “pattern in your posts,” like a spectator heckling from the stands or a journalist looking to shit-stir while feigning indifference.

If one can make claims about my comment history without the most convenient way to “systematically look through” it, one can back it up too likewise.

It's much easier to remember posts than the URLs of those posts, and theMotte doesn't allow searching for multi-word quotes or for filtering a search by a private-mode user.

drive-by

TBQH, most of my posts are on subthreads that showed up on the volunteer page; browsing theMotte is tedious. In this case, @Quantumfreakonomics' post got reported.

moving the goalposts

exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter

would be a

pattern in your posts

but the latter is notably shorter and I'm habitually concise.

I tried to check whether his accusation was hyperbolic, as it was relevant to rating his post and to whether I ought to chide him for it (example of me crawling up someone's arse over hyperbole within the last few days, in case you think I'm fabricating). But I hit your privacy block, and I'm not about to chide someone for hyperbole until I'm sure it is hyperbole (hypercorrection is a pet peeve of mine). And, well, hitting that block itself seemed extremely-relevant to your challenge, so here we are.

Part of my intent was to give you the opportunity to give QF a fair attempt, as I figured you may have had it on and forgotten about it. Another part of it was, admittedly, to ensure that anybody reading did not overupdate on QF being unable to provide evidence under present conditions.

Part of my intent was to give you the opportunity to give QF a fair attempt

Oh, how noble of you, to give me such a most generous opportunity.

Another part of it was, admittedly, to ensure that anybody reading did not overupdate on QF being unable to provide evidence under present conditions.

Again, the initial claim was made under present conditions—the same ones that have existed for years—so inability to follow-up on that claim under the same past and present conditions is no excuse. The status quo is already the fair attempt.

For a claim such as “exact same comment every single time regardless of the subject matter,” it only takes one counterexample to dismantle. Who knows, there may even exist multiple counterexamples just in this week’s or last week’s CWR or FF threads. Shouldn’t be hard to find given the apparent relative ease by which to remember posts.