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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   2451 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 23, 2024

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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Who are these mass-spamming trolls? DM if you don’t want that to be a public debate.

I don’t get the impression that our vote trends are driven by (or against) a few users. As with Reddit, there are popular and unpopular opinions, and a silent majority will vote without ever saying anything. Getting labeled a troll is a good way to attract downvotes. So is complaining about vote distributions.

We probably have more users with one or another principled voting strategy, but we definitely have more who will upvote anything critical of progressives.

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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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