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PaperclipPerfector  22hr ago (text post)   745 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 24, 2026

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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Are people here as autistic as everyone jokes that everyone is or is that just humor? In the survey posted a month ago (tongue-in-cheekily) I was forty something percent German and about as much autistic, but that was entertainment. Are people going on diagnosed autism or just vibes?

Don't answer of course if this is personal.

According to the quiz, 27% German, 16% autistic, neither prevailing. I do seem to get along with autistic people, and am more autistic than the average basically normal woman.

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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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