site banner
PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3487 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 11, 2023

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.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Where do you go on the internet to have fun in 2023?

I used to frequent the chans back when there were many small ones, read a lot of SA, Fugly, iMockery, even early Cracked and some Maddox, among dozens of other small sites. Then there was Stumbleupon which was like magic to me when it came out, and I came across all kinds of weird and interesting sites while using it.

I've outgrown a lot of those sites now -- they were a lot funnier when I was 15 -- but I haven't really found any new sites or communities that scratch the same itch. I usually check this place first for interesting bathroom reading, then if there's nothing new I check a few subreddits, and if I'm truly desperate I'll open 4chan, although the noise/bots/spam seem to finally have killed any originality that was still lingering (except for during the rare major Happening).

Help me avoid reading books and going outside by recommending a few fun, funny, and/or interesting sites to read.

rdrama.net

The modern internet feels very small and uninhabited.

I don't actually go there to have fun but that's definitely an excellent meta resource https://explore.marginalia.nu/view

e.g. I just found https://watcher.neocities.org/

You get an invitation.

Can't have normies come in.

Have your tried the edgier part of Mastodon?

I think Kiwifarms is like the last place that carries that 'old internet' vibe forward, complete with the crude sense of humor and disdain for social norms of civility.

Twitter is still pretty fun in certain spots if you follow a good combination of people. That is, after Elon loosened the thumbscrews off the spicier posters a bit.

The true 'fun' stuff really has been relegated to discord/telegram/slack or other groupchats.

If I want entertaining reading material then usually something like /r/hobbydrama or /r/bestofupdates / /r/bestoflegalupdates, as they tend to be fairly longform, varied in subject matter and end at a conclusion. Theonion is still funny, and there's McSweeny's if you like your humour dry and literary and sympathetic to the blue tribe, but it's easy to burn through a month's worth of new posts on both of those sites in less than an hour.

I think all the cool kids moved on to discord and telegram. The problem with the latter is that you can’t sign up for an anonymous account; it requires a phone number.

The problem with the latter is that you can’t sign up for an anonymous account; it requires a phone number.

Discord also requires a phone number for new accounts.

I thought telegram is a messaging app like Whatsapp

I think all the cool kids moved on to discord and telegram. The problem with the latter is that you can’t sign up for an anonymous account; it requires a phone number.

Telegram has giant chatrooms. It's a huge thing in the open source intelligence world right now. A ton of information about the war in Ukraine gets posted in telegram first, and then makes its way out to more normal news channels.

Besides this place, mainly 4chan. /pol/ is a shadow of what it once was but other boards are good. I frequent /lit/ and /ic/. /vg/ for certain video game topics. There are surprisingly good discussions to be had on /d/ if you’re interested in, well, /d/ sorts of topics.

I’m spending less and less time on reddit because most of the subreddits I used to frequent are naturally slowing down and dying over time.

I don't. I quit. It's all trash. I check the motte, read some newspapers, but even those are activities in decline. I use the internet to get specific pieces of information I'm looking for, but I no longer ask the internet "what's new"?

Edit: To be fair, it was all trash back when, too.

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