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naraburns  nihil supernum  2d ago (text post)   Edited 2d ago   1839 thread views

Quality Contributions Report for October 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

@FiveHourMarathon:

Contributions for the week of September 28, 2026

@100ProofTollBooth:

Contributions for the week of October 5, 2026

@kky:

@YE_GUILTY:

@ThenElection:

@FtttG:

@roystgnr:

@YoungAchamian:

@KingOfTheBailey:

@Shakes:

@hanikrummihundursvin:

@OliveTapenade:

Contributions for the week of October 12, 2026

@4bpp:

@Rov_Scam:

@coffee_enjoyer:

@FCfromSSC:

@rockbier1218:

Contributions for the week of October 19, 2026

@Shakes:

@Iconochasm:

@Dean:

@Primaprimaprima:

@naraburns:

@satirizedoor:

Contributions for the week of October 26, 2026

@Shrike:

@hanikrummihundursvin:

@FCfromSSC:

@SecureSignals:

@Nerd:

@Goodguy:

@Shakes:

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(This is primarily a response to the top-level comment - I'm including some comments by naraburns just to try to be complete, and to riff on thoughts that occurred to me.)

I am disappointed that "let me assume a headcanon about a piece of fiction-> rhetorical exhortations -> therefore I present conclusions supposedly about the OG work but actually more about arguments I smuggle in as assumptions" a makes an AAQC. What is the quality, as I am not seeing it?

In this case I just dismissed the whole thing as SecureSignals doing his usual neo-Nazi schtick, and to the extent that Mottizens upvoted and/or nominated it as a positive contribution, I put that down mainly to the Motte having an unusually high quotient of neo-Nazis.

There might be an interesting discussion to have somewhere about heredity and children and loyalty and tradition, and I'd be on board for that, but in this case the whole discourse is so tainted as to make it not worth engaging in.

Downvote and move on. That's my advice.

You don't have to think that's interesting to think about, but if you can't even see why others might find it interesting to think about, you might consider the possibility that you have a serious blind spot (or extremely trapped priors) here.

The Motte unfortunately has a population - I really hope a small one - of unironic pagan neo-Nazis/white-supremacists. Every now and then they get upvotes. Again, the best I can suggest is downvote and move on. This:

With specific regard to this post, it got plenty of nominations but also I did think it made an interesting point. Real people make real decisions every day concerning whether they should or should not pass along their genes, for example because they carry a serious genetic malady.

Okay, that's maybe an interesting discussion. Cursed Child does raise lots of interesting issues around Draco, Astoria, reproduction, and so on. But I think you do have to make some critical judgements about where it's possible to have that discussion in an interesting way in a given context, and... it's not here. I'm sorry, but it's not here.

Is it really neo Nazi? I think the issue is that JKR made an entire universe in which bloodline = magical powers, which is different than this reality. In that universe, being in favor of high quality bloodlines is good as it ensures that magical powers will continue. That’s the world building we have. In Way of Kings, magic powers are a property of a certain kind of rock, thus if you want to preserve magical powers in Way of Kings you horde those rocks.

JKR is notoriously bad about internal consistency in her world building, and the bloodlines = magic bit is one of them. If you’re writing to make the point that everyone should be included, maybe don’t make genetics a component of your magic system. Also, maybe don’t make the gnomes working in the bank Jewish stereotypes.

Also, maybe don’t make the gnomes working in the bank Jewish stereotypes.

I've heard this claim so many times and I still think it's a massive reach. The claim that was intended as a jokey allusion to the gnomes of Zurich seems vastly more believable to me.

JKR is notoriously bad about internal consistency in her world building, and the bloodlines = magic bit is one of them. If you’re writing to make the point that everyone should be included, maybe don’t make genetics a component of your magic system.

The books are quite explicit that while many of the pureblood wizards believe that keeping their blood “pure” is important to retain their powers, they are in fact not correct. There is never any actual indication that being more pure makes you stronger. Of the main characters: the Potter family were a pureblood lineage but Harry’s mother was muggle-born, and he is a strong wizard; Ron is a pureblood and is a moderate-to-strong wizard; Hermione is a muggle-born and is “the finest witch of her generation”; Malfoy is a pureblood and is a mediocre wizard; even Voldemort, one of the strongest wizards ever (and leader of the wizard-supremacy movement) is himself a half-blood.

Some wizards are naturally stronger than others, it’s not only about practice, but that natural talent is not correlated to “blood purity” at all. Hermione is the obvious example for this, and it’s why Malfoy hates her so much, this is not subtle in the text.

Also, maybe don’t make the gnomes working in the bank Jewish stereotypes

Here I thought they were a reference to the Swiss. Personally, I still find it entertaining (and expected) that the most hardcore anti-Rowling folks on the left immediately stopped accusing her of being anti-semitic the moment October 7 happened.

the most hardcore anti-Rowling folks on the left immediately stopped accusing her of being anti-semitic the moment October 7 happened.

Did they? According to Spiked they were accusing her of Holocaust denial as recently as March 2024. I think the specific claim was that denying that trans people were one of the primary targets of the Holocaust is tantamount to Holocaust denial, but they were obviously hoping people would interpret this accusation as a denial of the Holocaust in toto.

I'm more than a little alarmed by the number of people who actively foment hatred against Jews and yet who are willing to use baseless accusations of antisemitism as a cudgel against people they despise for unrelated reasons.

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