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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2913 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 27, 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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I started using ad blockers in the 2010s, when JavaScript and Flash ads made webpages literally unreadable on PCs: slowdowns, security intrusions, scams shaped like security alerts, and so on. But things have gotten better since Firefox Quantum, HTML5, and the end of Flash; even without adblockers, my PCs at home and work are not slowed to a crawl or infected. Still, I use them generally.

I read several webcomics daily, and I support them by turning off my adblockers for their site; I do the same for YouTube now, in the belief that their ads aren’t malicious, just time-spending. Googlephabet is (literally) banking on my willingness to watch ads to keep normal YouTube free; it’s a free market social contract.

However, when I help people with their computers, I install UBO, UBO Lite, and MalwareBytes Browser Guard so I won’t have to deal with them coming crying back with viruses.

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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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