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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2588 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 17, 2024

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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Do you think there will be a change in forum viewership after that screenshot was viewed three million times on Twitter?

You can't post something like this without providing a link.

In any case, I suppose we don't have to worry so much about losing the Reddit pipeline.

https://twitter.com/tracewoodgrains/status/1769981976642015257

Isn't that really from his substack originally though?

I forgot he posted on substack originally, you’re right.

Yeah, it’s not a Motte screenshot, I think we’ll be fine. In general I think Twitter aficionados would find this place pretty slow, wordy and with much less regular like/retweet/reply dopamine injection than Twitter. There’s a reason users like Kulak largely moved on to Twitter, after all. This is more of a social club than a discussion board.

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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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