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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   1689 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 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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Nobody is forcing you to read the entire thing. As I recently mentioned:

What matters is the journey, not the destination. Among non-professionally-published literary works, I think it's very possible that I've enjoyed more incomplete ones than complete ones.

Even among professionally-published works, there's nothing wrong with giving five stars to The Three Musketeers, four stars to Twenty Years After, and three stars plus "did not finish" to The Vicomte de Bragelonne.

If you like the early parts, but find that the story becomes less enjoyable as you progress, then just drop the story.

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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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