site banner
PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   1824 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 2, 2023

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.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Reddit is beginning to truly shoot itself in the foot. A new policy of charging for API calls of $12,000 for 50 million calls is going to kill 3rd-party developers who have developed lightweight apps that are superior to Reddits own awful app. Reddit is Fun is the app I've used for practically a decade, and Reddit itself has become one of the most important depositories for human knowledge online - how many of us have resorted to "product + reddit" or "problem + reddit" as a method of locating and finding specified information?

All of this seems to be to push reddit towards an IPO and to increase revenues (Especially for a company which has never made money), but I have a feeling their push for revenues will come at the cost of community it has been able to foster. Why reddit even wants to be a profitable company is beyond me - why not just become a nonprofit?

Anyways, I think this will cause a ton of people to leave reddit, or at least cause a lot of grumbling and virtue signaling about going to leave reddit. I haven't used Facebook significantly since the 2016 election, maybe people will flock back there.

I know when the 3rd party apps die (I wonder if that includes RES) I'll probably no longer go on reddit myself.

I have RedditIsFun, but never used it on mobile much myself. I guess I won't at all after this API charging thing goes out. I'm more into desktop, using old.reddit.com. If they ever turn that off, then I'll probably be gone for good.

So is formally acknowledging the uncomfortable truth that investors continue to fund the site because it pushes a particular political agenda, for that matter.

I look at the list of investors into Reddit, and I don't see the list being particularly woke. Reddit moderation does push a political angle, but what evidence do we have this is done because of the investor pressure?

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