Why are there multiple SSC culture war spin-offs? If even SSC readers can’t avoid political polarization to this extent, I don’t see any hope for the rest of the population
I've got a summary of some of the history here, if you're interested. That post skipped over DataSecretLox, but it formed in Summer 2020, mostly from the SlateStarCodex open thread and subreddit readers (w/ a bit of tumblrsphere).
Most of these splits weren't on the matters of politics, at least directly. The tumblrsphere was leftish by ratsphere and SSC standards, but mostly bifurcated to allow more informal and scattershot discussion in a more person-oriented view. TheMotte subreddit split from the SSC subreddit because people were harassing Scott enough that he had a nervous breakdown, and the compromise was that any political discussion needed to be several steps away from his identity.
The CultureWarRoundup, as much as it favored righter-wing viewpoints, was more about different takes on what engagement styles people were going after. Probably still political, but not as much as it seems in retrospect. I think there was one or two explicitly right-wing one-person schisms, but I can't even find them now. TheSchism was meant as an explicit political schism in the aftermath of the Rittenhouse stuff, and a naive experiment, so I guess that makes two relevant ones?
So I guess, yes, that is a lot of bad signs for the general population, but more for how the explicit efforts went than by their existence.
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
mdurak 2mo ago
"Why" is that Data Secrets Lox was founded in the time between SSC's closure and ACX's opening, and not everybody suddenly evicted from SSC's comments wanted to move to the subreddits (this was before theMotte left Reddit). I was a member on DSL before I was a Motte member, for instance, because I didn't have (and didn't want to get) a Reddit account. It's not a "Motte for different politics".
It's also not specifically for culture war, although it allows it.
I’m not convinced Trump knows how to run the ball.
Arguably, that’s his strongest suit. The 2016 field was unprepared for air raid offense. No huddles, no depth of roster, just a series of passing plays. Trump zeroed in on a weak defender.
Hmm. I wonder if he ran similar strategies in his earlier bids. It was a different time.
It was a waste, but we couldn't be certain of that going into it. The previous debate showed how a bad performance could have consequences. But as it turned out, neither were that bad.
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Notes -
Looks like a draw thus far(I'm correcting from my bias towards a Trump victory). Moderators definitely look biased.
Edit: this debate is a waste of time.
I only watched a few minutes, I'm more interested in the reactions than the actual debate.
If the NYT says Trump did ok Trump won.
If Pod Save America gets conspicuously upset about fact checking, Trump is winning the election.
If certain mottizens get conspicuously upset about debate formatting and moderation, Trump lost.
If certain DSL folks say Kamala won, she filleted Trump live on camera.
I'm better at judging other people's reactions than I am at actually reading the debate myself.
What's DSL?
Data Secrets Lox, another SSC spinoff forum (which also leans right, although perhaps less heavily than theMotte).
Why are there multiple SSC culture war spin-offs? If even SSC readers can’t avoid political polarization to this extent, I don’t see any hope for the rest of the population
I've got a summary of some of the history here, if you're interested. That post skipped over DataSecretLox, but it formed in Summer 2020, mostly from the SlateStarCodex open thread and subreddit readers (w/ a bit of tumblrsphere).
Most of these splits weren't on the matters of politics, at least directly. The tumblrsphere was leftish by ratsphere and SSC standards, but mostly bifurcated to allow more informal and scattershot discussion in a more person-oriented view. TheMotte subreddit split from the SSC subreddit because people were harassing Scott enough that he had a nervous breakdown, and the compromise was that any political discussion needed to be several steps away from his identity.
The CultureWarRoundup, as much as it favored righter-wing viewpoints, was more about different takes on what engagement styles people were going after. Probably still political, but not as much as it seems in retrospect. I think there was one or two explicitly right-wing one-person schisms, but I can't even find them now. TheSchism was meant as an explicit political schism in the aftermath of the Rittenhouse stuff, and a naive experiment, so I guess that makes two relevant ones?
So I guess, yes, that is a lot of bad signs for the general population, but more for how the explicit efforts went than by their existence.
Thanks for the context, I really enjoyed the summary!
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"Why" is that Data Secrets Lox was founded in the time between SSC's closure and ACX's opening, and not everybody suddenly evicted from SSC's comments wanted to move to the subreddits (this was before theMotte left Reddit). I was a member on DSL before I was a Motte member, for instance, because I didn't have (and didn't want to get) a Reddit account. It's not a "Motte for different politics".
It's also not specifically for culture war, although it allows it.
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NYT thinks it was a narrow victory for Harris, which points to roughly a draw.
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Well, there you have it.
Dunno which DSL commenters you have in mind, but I don’t see much evidence of filleting. Moderation complaints, on the other hand…
We should have made debate bingo.
Yeah I'm reading narrow Trump loss.
What surprised me is reliance by Trump on high variance plays. I'd think he'd be trying to run the ball and make Kamala beat him.
I’m not convinced Trump knows how to run the ball.
Arguably, that’s his strongest suit. The 2016 field was unprepared for air raid offense. No huddles, no depth of roster, just a series of passing plays. Trump zeroed in on a weak defender.
Hmm. I wonder if he ran similar strategies in his earlier bids. It was a different time.
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It was a waste, but we couldn't be certain of that going into it. The previous debate showed how a bad performance could have consequences. But as it turned out, neither were that bad.
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