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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   4244 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 10, 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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Question for anyone who joined the Motte post Reddit exodus, and who wasn't already at least lurking on Reddit:

How did you find the place?

After all, I can only assume that the accidental exposure that comes about from being a public subreddit doesn't really apply these days, and Scott's shoutouts are few and far between.

I knew about this place when the exodus happened, but I didn't join until somewhat recently when someone pointed out that this was where the hockposting was happening.

Hmm, thanks for sharing. I'm primarily curious about how people who had never heard of the Motte before it moved arrived here, but I have yet to get a response from someone like that. Maybe they don't exist!

It is worrisome just how suppressive exclusion from mainstream sites can be.

Not quite post Reddit exodus, but I stumbled upon a geopolitical thread on /r/TheMotte the week the exodus occurred. I liked what I read, and followed everyone in. Never heard of Scott Alexander or Slate Star Codex prior to that.

I joined post-exodus, but was lurking for a little before. (I don't have a reddit account.) I found it via Scott.

Hmm, was that via a recent work of his, or were you trawling through the archives? I struggle to recall the last time he explicitly linked to us, best I can do is either a direct link to a comment made by someone like Tracing Woodgrains about a year or so back, maybe an actual link to the general sub well before then.

He does regularly link to the SSC subreddit, which (I think?) has some of the same moderators as this site. Don't know if there's an obvious pipeline from that sub to here.

It might have been this one where I found it? Not actually sure though. I only discovered Scott after the New York Times incident.

Hmm. Thanks for looking that up! If we're talking 2021, that's about the time I remember Scott personally interacting with me on the old sub, that got rarer and rarer and I can't recall him showing up more than once or twice in the entire duration since.

I don't believe any of them have joined, but I privately send links to high quality posts (and sometimes rough drafts of my relatively low quality responses for proofing/critique, almost all of which were never posted) to thoughtful friends and family. Usually the links are related their profession/philosophy or a description of a culture war flareup in their area.

I presume you happen to be an old lurker yourself? At least I don't personally recall encountering you on the old sub, not that my memory is perfect or my knowledge of every user exhaustive!

Yeah, old mostly lurker, both on themotte sub but also SSC sub CWR threads before that migrated.

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.


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