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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3004 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 23, 2025

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've bitten the bullet on creating a substack. There's nothing to see there just yet, but if anyone has advice or suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Does anyone happen to know if substack's organic discovery is any good? I'm not going to spend money on advertising, or spam, so I don't know what to expect.

Working plan: Await next post of mine that would be a certified club banger, and then use that to announce its existence, here and on /r/Slatestarcodex.

I think I have a sizable backlog of essays I could easily copy and paste, just to flesh it out further.

I would read a post on you on how you got into Xianxia, and what you like about it.

The genre doesn't really get many quality posts, and it would be interesting to see your view on it. I was going to do something similar, but I've been putting it off for ages.

An interesting topic, I might be a Xianxia fan, but I've only read 4 whole novels!

(That was probably 20 million words, so make of that what you will)

I'll take your suggestion into account, it is a pet subject of mine, as my enthusiasm should show.

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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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