site banner
ArjinFerman  Tinfoil Gigachad  13d ago (text post)   431 thread views

Tinker Tuesday for December 17, 2024

This thread is for anyone working on personal projects to share their progress, and hold themselves somewhat accountable to a group of peers.

Post your project, your progress from last week, and what you hope to accomplish this week.

If you want to be pinged with a reminder asking about your project, let me know, and I'll harass you each week until you cancel the service

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I ended up writing a few pages of lore.

Hell. I didn't know I still had that in me. I used to write a lot of worldbuilding fluff before I started programming, i.e., something like 15 years ago. That took a backseat since because I was more interested in procedural content, simulated systems and emergent dynamics. But now that I rarely get to do any of that...it turns out that I can still write a few thousand words even when dead tired and nominally out of time.

It's not good, mind you. Low-quality drivel, maximally cringe, the opposite of literature, certainly not going to post any of it. But it felt good to write down something, something at all, even if only inert verbiage rather than code. Given a lot of editing, it could be turned into a tutorial narrative for a specific scenario, and/or maybe just some fluff dialogue. More game stuff than sim stuff.

I'll also be on vacation for the rest of the year, so maybe I can eke out a few hours of concentration time at some point. Hope, yet.

But now that I rarely get to do any of that...it turns out that I can still write a few thousand words even when dead tired and nominally out of time.

It makes sense, it's exercising a part of your brain that didn't get tired out during the course of the day, which is my main struggle with my projects.

certainly not going to post any of it

Well, I can definitely sympathize here, and won't bother you about it this time. I like thinking up stories too, but every time I actually sit down and write anything down it 's a) torture to get any words down on paper, b) utter cringefest that goes straight into the garbage bin

It makes sense, it's exercising a part of your brain that didn't get tired out during the course of the day, which is my main struggle with my projects.

Makes perfect sense, honestly. Doing software dev during the day certainly saps my enthusiasm for doing more of it in the evening.

It used to be that I picked up new methods and ideas at work and thought to myself "I need to try that at home", and then I went and did that. But I guess nowadays I no longer encounter exciting new ideas at work.

Well, I can definitely sympathize here, and won't bother you about it this time. I like thinking up stories too, but every time I actually sit down and write anything down it 's a) torture to get any words down on paper, b) utter cringefest that goes straight into the garbage bin

It comes rather easily for me, pretty much a flow state, but the outcome is the same. Not fit for human consumption; at least not the first version.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


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.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats