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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   1975 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 13, 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.

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Wow. It's been over a year since I posted on the Motte or even Reddit; I came back to find this place is definitely... different. It seems much smaller, a bit more subdued, but possibly better. I know a lot of the reason I stopped contributing then was the Reddity feel of the place. But I remember the Friday Fun Threads were always pretty cool.

Who do you think has been left behind? I'm asking in terms of demographic shifts. Are there fewer younger posters? Hotheads? The general consensus seems to be this place is much more conservative, but I don't know if I've seen that, yet.

The geniuses.

The Motte is still relatively smart. Maybe 125 avg. But I don't think the outlier 150+ folk stuck around . I remember reading some /r/themotte comments and getting the impression I'm in the presence of a 1000 year old vampire. I haven't gotten that feeling as much after the move.

Comments in general are.. more political, more nitpicky, more missing the pointy, etc.

I don't think it has anything to do with the forum getting more "conservative" the smartest people are usually too heterodox to classify anyways. I think its more to do with the lack of dynamism of this forum. Even after we have a website, we don't have the stomach for a bare link reposity? Are you kidding me? We don't have a new user pipeline anymore to keep things interesting (by asking naive but nevertheless amenable to good discussion questions), and we won't make one either.

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!

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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.


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