site banner
PaperclipPerfector  17d ago (text post)   3045 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 14, 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.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

My father was was appointed mayor of Nampa, Idaho. Nampa is in the Boise Metro, it's Idaho third largest city at around 110,000 people. R+20. He's only gonna be in office for a year an a half, doesn't plan on running after.

What would be the most impactfully policies he could pursue.

Of course he probably won't listen to me, and the city council certainly won't listen. Parks and Rec is more real than people think...

This is half-facetious but... is there any way to address how bad Nampa sometimes smells? We have casually considered moving there from Boise but we're afraid we'll accidentally end up somewhere that reeks when the wind comes from the right direction.

Also half-facetious... It's a federal problem end all agricultural subsidies and the sugar beet industry will collapse taking the the sugar beet factory with it.

Thirty years ago there were three big problems Amalgamated, the meat packing plant, and sewage processing. The three of them were spaced around the city so that you could get a smell any wind direction. The meat plant is gone, the city has and is dumping a ton of money into water treatment, and the sugar beat factory has had several rounds of of projects to mitigate the smell. Now, I only notice a sugar beat factory sporadically during the fall beet campaign if the conditions are just right, and I'm relatively close. So yes, don't buy a house next to the factory (granted that means farther from the freeway), but 90% of the town is now fine with only a few days a year where you might get a whiff.

While it pains me to say, if I was going to move back to that side of the valley I'd probably look at Caldwell. I think downtown Caldwell is far superior to downtown Nampa now. I haven't looked at how worse the gang issues are, but no matter what it pales in comparison to the late 90's early '00s.

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.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats