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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1779 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 27, 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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What about post deletions (or mass edits that remove >30% of the content of a post) requiring mod approval and not going through without it? Or maybe temporarily going through in case things are time-sensitive like accidentally letting personal information slip, but requiring a mod appeal alongside it and reverting if the mods don't accept the reasoning.

Please remember that these pie-in-the-sky proposals would require a bunch of programming to actually implement. The administrator has not been doing much work on the site lately, and has explicitly said that the current codebase is a "dead end".

Things have been made easier with AI programming assistance. There are still changes being made to the codebase. One of the recent changes was to prevent inbox harassment from new users that haven't made it out of the filter.

If things become urgent or serious enough then code changes are still on the table. We don't feel that comment deletions are too serious as of late. It was much worse a while back and some rule enforcement changes nipped it in the bud.

Fair enough. I think the deletion of old content across the internet is a real tragedy and makes it a lot worse of a place that it otherwise could be, which is an underrated and underdiscussed issue in general. But I understand that practical limitations exist.

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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.

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!

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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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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).

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