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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2840 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 17, 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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What is wrong with reddit? I find that oftentimes I have a question, and I can't honestly think of any other place on the internet that I can ask that question and get an answer other than specific subreddits. But at the same time, I don't want to post on reddit because I hate it. You can't post anything there without at least half the comments being about how you're a fucking idiot for even asking the question to begin with. Every single time I'm like "I know I had bad experiences on reddit in the past, but this current post I'm about to do is so innocuous that no one could possibly take issue with it and ridicule me for it", and every time, without fail, I'm proven wrong.

Reddit just seems to me to be the judgiest place in the world. Does reddit select for this? Is this some sort of toxoplasma in action? Does half of reddit just consider themselves to be better than other people?

My favorite form of this on my local subreddit is the contingent that always feels the need to say, "you could do it yourself" to any question about getting any service or good locally. What's a good mechanic? You could do it in your garage. Who has the best BBQ? Smoking meat isn't that hard. Bore sight a scope? You can learn to do that. Best burger? My house, har har har.

How the fuck is this remotely helpful? Everyone is aware that it's possible to do [service] yourself, but if they're asking where to get it done, they have already considered doing it and decided they would rather pay someone that does it all the time. More to the point, what the hell is it that triggers people to give these responses? Just a desire to show off their own skills? Very weird behavior.

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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."

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