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naraburns  nihil supernum  2d ago (text post)   1245 thread views

Quality Contributions Report for July 2026

This is the Quality Contributions Roundup. It showcases interesting and well-written comments and posts from the period covered. If you want to get an idea of what this community is about or how we want you to participate, look no further (except the rules maybe--those might be important too).

As a reminder, you can nominate Quality Contributions by hitting the report button and selecting the "Actually A Quality Contribution!" option. Additionally, links to all of the roundups can be found in the wiki of /r/theThread which can be found here. For a list of other great community content, see here.

These are mostly chronologically ordered, but I have in some cases tried to cluster comments by topic so if there is something you are looking for (or trying to avoid), this might be helpful.

Quality Contributions to the Main Motte

@naraburns:

@urquan:

@Amadan:

@Ioper:

Contributions for the week of June 29, 2026

@gattsuru:

@RussianAmericanMormon:

Contributions for the week of July 6, 2026

@birb_cromble:

@Rov_Scam:

@dr_analog:

@FCfromSSC:

Contributions for the week of July 13, 2026

@RenOS:

@JTarrou:

@faceh:

@johnfabian:

@FtttG:

@YoungAchamian:

@gattsuru:

Metamotte

@ZorbaTHut:

@StableOutshoot:

Contributions for the week of July 20, 2026

@urquan:

@georgioz:

@Shakes:

@MartianNight:

@FCfromSSC:

Contributions for the week of July 27, 2026

@FtttG:

@cjet79:

@Shakes:

@FiveHourMarathon:

@gattsuru:

@JeSuisCharlie:

@hanikrummihundursvin:

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Disappointed that Faceh's comment got so many nominations and upvotes, given that his comment was a trivially dispprovable claim (discussions of birth rates focus mostly on men) and his 'evidence' was three articles he didn't like combined with a nonsequitous call to action (find me a pronatal policy that tries to limit women's behaviour, when there are literally no pronatal policies that limit men's behaviour). For an apparently 'quality contribution', there's no actual contribution there, no argument beyond the impulse to blame women.

sigh.

My whole, larger point is that there is literally never any moment, ever, where women receive any blame, either individually or collectively. There is never any attempt to make a policy adjustment that would disadvantage women even slightly. If discussion of a given policy would upset women, it does not get discussed. If women deem a particular factual argument as 'creepy' and forbidden, you are de facto not allowed to make the argument within earshot of a woman.

The mainstream is keen to discuss MALE shortcomings, and discuss how men's behavior impacts women's happiness and thus all the things that males could be doing differently. But as I've pointed out before, good luck finding a single article that asks "what are the concerns that males have, are they valid, and what can we do to alleviate them?" Its rare to even find an article on the topic written by a male author.

That comment was far from my best work, but I've got a large amount of contributions on this topic (to my chagrin) by now and I have yet to hear a single gosh-darn refutation of the point. It often ends with the obtuse implication or direct statment "you are probably unsuccessful with women and thus resentful, and now its clear you're misogynist. Therefore (somehow) we can ignore your arguments entirely."

Such attacks are boring. Unpersuasive. Fallacious. And if the goal is to shame, intimidate, or otherwise get me to back down, ineffective. The opposite of effective. My psychological makeup is such that when you make such attempts on me, I will literally plant my feet HARDER. It is immensely gratifying to me to stand up for an unpopular point that is nonetheless correct, and feel the frustration of those who are used to using social influence to shut down debate when they realize I'm not letting it go. I care very, very little about being popular.

The fact that this forum is one of the only ones on the public-facing internet where you can point out unpopular facts and level such arguments and not get dogpiled and/or downvoted into oblivion, and I choose to use said forum to point out the glaring asymmetry in favor of women, is probably why it reads as 'misogynist' to people who come from other forums where I would be simply banned or drowned out.

EDIT: Oh look, Just today Another article written by a woman writing about how bad dating is... and how this impacts women's feelings.

TO HER CREDIT, we get this passage:

Meanwhile, a lot of men are feeling painfully inadequate. It’s not that money is the only thing a man can offer; after all, fewer women need a breadwinner now. But researchers told me that the qualities women now value more than ever—sensitivity, openness, communication skills—are not typically ingrained in men from childhood. And although men strive to meet those modern expectations, the old standards haven’t disappeared. Men are supposed to pay for dinner but also treat women as equals; to initiate flirty banter but never be creepy or aggressive; to be sturdy and masculine but also empathetic and thoughtful. Arthur, a 46-year-old in New Jersey who responded to my survey, said that he’s dated women who think he’s too nice. One explained that she broke up with him because he has “dad energy.” (“I’m not 100 percent sure what that means,” Arthur told me, “but I’m guessing it’s not very sexy.”) Another said she liked how sweet and supportive he was, yet also wanted him to be more decisive—to be “the man” in the relationship, as Arthur saw it. He wasn’t sure how to exhibit both traits at once.

My own experience is almost the inverse. I feel overqualified for the husband position at this point, and I'm continually seeing women who might, in theory, make good wives go down self-defeating, sometimes self-destructive paths such that I have a hard time seeing them as marriage material.

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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.

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