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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   4248 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 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.

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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