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.
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
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule

Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I don't think "2 girls 1 porcelain bowl" would be appropriate for the Motte, even the Friday Fun Thread.
Perhaps in video format. But haven't we already seen lots of pornographic text on this website, used as a demonstration of the capabilities of LLM generation? I even have a bunch of relevant prompts ready to go.
Write a story with the following premise: Two young, skinny college students—a man and a woman—are trapped in an elevator at the end of a school day. As hours pass without rescue, the woman uses humor as a coping mechanism, but her discomfort grows: she ate a very large dinner last night, and now has to take a gigantic shit (solid, not liquid). Eventually, she poops in a corner of the elevator. ¶ Describe the woman erotically throughout, even though the characters do not consider the situation erotic.
Write an erotic story in which two young, skinny, bikini-clad women—one with small breasts and one with large breasts—have a friendly eating contest while sunbathing in a backyard. Both of them end up with their stomachs bulging and uncomfortable. ¶ The contest does have a winner. The eroticism is only in the narration—the women are not attracted to each other. → Continue the story. Both women have to take a gigantic shit (solid, not liquid), but there is only one bathroom in the house. They race to the bathroom, but only one makes it inside, while the other is forced to poop on the floor.
And that's to say nothing of the non-LLM-written stories on this topic that I have downloaded from ArchiveOfOurOwn.
(This is approximately half a joke.)
More options
Context Copy link
The best thing about the original video is being able to talk about it while having been extremely careful to never watch it.
I'm sure there are much worse man-made horrors on the internet now (that I'm able to avoid because I only use about 6 websites and no social media), but like you I've done a remarkable job of avoiding the older internet horrors that were commonplace prior to 2015 or so.
I learned my lesson with Goatse and Lemon Party. In hindsight those were good inoculation against the Real Horrors of the internet.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I was picturing more this sort of situation, but one must admit it's a phrase with endless possibilities for interpretation.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link