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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 2, 2023

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Do you think this is just a fine example of the kind of decorum that's acceptable here? If these kinds of posts were 100x more frequent, at the same level of decorum, would that make the motte a better or worse place? Personally I think the motte would quickly become unusable.

If these kinds of posts were 100x more frequent, at the same level of decorum, would that make the motte a better or worse place? Personally I think the motte would quickly become unusable.

This is a standard which would be failed by pretty much every post here, including the Actually A Quality Contribution posts. A 100-fold increase in frequency of any one particular type of post, no matter how good that type is, is such a drastic change that it's likely to throw the social dynamics off balance in a way that is hard to predict and thus make the forum harder to use for the people who are already accustomed to the preexisting ones.

For instance, your posts here complaining about someone else's level of decorum; if people posted these types of posts 100x as often (presuming the posts were approved), then the Motte would quickly become unusable. That's not to say that you should stop posting these; just like other people shouldn't stop posting comments that would, if scaled up 100-fold, make the Motte unusable, because that's a ridiculously high standard.

And I'll say that the post in question isn't exactly the flagship example of the kind of decorum that's acceptable here, but it's definitely well within the bounds of the kind of decorum that's acceptable here. And furthermore, personally, it's the kind of decorum that I enjoy seeing here and wouldn't mind seeing more of, though a 100-fold - or even 5-fold, TBH - increase in its frequency would definitely render the Motte unusable for my uses.

I think, if that is how people are thinking and feeling they should be able to talk about it here. I think my almost namesake is wrong on a lot of things. But I think he truthfully believes what he says, and as such it is pretty important to know that. Particularly if there are other people who feel the same way (and there are I believe). Now of course if everyone said the same thing this place would be the worse for it, because it would be more boring and echo-chambery.

Generally I think he is civil to people here and I have no problem with him saying what he says, even if I disagree with him, and think he is way too pessimistic and thus can only see (what I would perceive) as negative ways out.