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PaperclipPerfector  23d ago (text post)   2699 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 6, 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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rdrama, the /r/drama spinoff site that themotte.org's code is based off of, experienced roughly a day and a half of downtime from late Wednesday until half an hour ago. This was the longest outage event in the site's history (previous record was ~7 hours) and the first that was not caused by botched code deployment.

This time, the cause is "the hosting provider lost physical access to and control over their [edit for clarity: rented] US datacenter".

[sound warning, rdrama warning, bright colors warning] https://rdrama.net/post/790694/pictured-leaked-screenshot-from-our-illustrious

The site is currently in its annual "Donkey Kong December" theme event, which takes place in February.

The most recent backup that was not hosted in the same lost datacenter is from September of last year, so there has been a substantial rollback. Admins are working to retrieve a 2/4/2026 backup from another provider, but negotiations are ongoing.

[sound warning, rdrama warning, bright colors warning]

I have to ask: How can anyone use that site when it's explicitly been made so user hostile?

Truly, it is a wonder that The Motte is usable at all given the origin of the codebase.

If you have an account there is a toggle by the name of "poor mode" that turns off most of that stuff.

What is this place?

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!

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.


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