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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3214 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 7, 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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I have a bit embarrassing question to ask: what is the functionality of following users for? I thought that if I followed some users, I would get the notifications of their posts, but apparently it doesn't work that way (or at least not for me). Would someone be so kind and explain it to me?

If we updated it to also count top-level comments in the culture war thread, that would be an improvement, I think.

But yeah, currently it doesn't do too much.

I think that's exactly how it's meant to work l, with the note that comments aren't posts, so you don't get notified of them.

I'm pretty sure it worked in the past, but people I follow aren't so prolific, so I haven't seen any recent notification.

Now I understand, thank you. But barely anyone posts something on the Motte, so I don't find this feature as useful as I previously thought. But it can be useful in the future, thanks once again.

Posts and comments aren't the same thing. Posts are the submissions that appear on the front page; you'll get a blue notification when a user you're following makes one.

You are right, by writing 'posts' I meant post and comments, but it's not clear. So I get the notifications only for posts and not for comments?

Yes.

Thank you.

I agree it's weird. Most people do not make top level posts here, so it's largely pointless to follow people.

I still find it somewhat useful as a quick link to the people whose profiles I can check for new comments.

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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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