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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3429 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 25, 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.

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What is the benefit of allowing users to hide their posting history?

I'll actually toss this into the upcoming meta thread to see if there is strong objection to its removal, but yeah we should probably just remove it.

I agree it's pointless and annoying and I would like to see it removed.

We got the feature from the rdrama codebase, and they, i think, added it for no particular reason, like many of their features (it obviously reduces drama).

User.is_private is a legacy of Ruqqus. We considered dropping it on rDrama (though after the time of the Motte fork), but rDrama has an influential minority of paranoid users.

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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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