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Sorry to derail, but same, and while I welcome their presence I'm more than a little bemused at it's implication. All this time we were told that the reason they're leaving is that they were being mistreated, my current conclusion is leaning towards: they were leaving because they felt they're winning, and no longer need us - they're coming back because they're feeling like they're starting to lose.
For me at least I left because I didn't find the issues of the day terribly interesting - "woke bad" was not wrong but it was tiresome especially when woke was already on the downswing.
Now that we live in interesting times again, it's interesting to come on here and see how the people who have been cheering for Trump to come drain the swamp, fix our budget problems, and Make America Great Again react to the actual methods he's using in the supposed pursuit of that goal, and whether they think America is on track towards being made great.
That might be a better way to say what I was thinking: “It’s particularly frustrating to watch people try and claim the moral low ground.”
Americans love an underdog. You can justify extreme tactics as leveling the playing field, and when something doesn’t pan out, you can blame the loss on wreckers. I see the strategy, but I simply find the exercise…frustrating. Unappealing. Tiresome.
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It'll be interesting to see what the Motte looks like in 5 years, assuming we survive the AI botspampocalype.
We're on such a razor's edge where I can see us either purity spiraling into QANON land, or being taken over by leftists (either as part of a deliberate activist effort or just because every space seems to move left over time).
On the plus side, we're protected by very good mods. As long as they don't get pissed off and quit, we'll probably be alright. And I suppose we're also protected by our low visibility and importance. Few people stumble upon us. So there's not any real value in ideologically capturing us as opposed to other similar spaces like Reddit or HackerNews.
Probably the biggest risk is just going the way of Slashdot, gradual loss of users and interest over time.
Ah, yes, O'Sullivan's First Law wins again.
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I think the long-form, low-volume nature of much of this forum is probably a turn-off for folks who are used to watching shorts on whatever platform they're using. The other side is that ad hominem attacks aren't really well tolerated here. The fact you can catch a ban for low-effort posting would immediately disqualify much of the net.
I'm not saying the a group of debate nerds can't be compromised. But I agree that the juice here probably isn't worth the squeeze.
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In my own case, I'm mostly a lurker here who likes to see a light-over-heat discussion between smart generalists across the political spectrum and extending to well outside the Overton window. I learn so much here, and get a ton of ideas for new books to read or topics to look into.
But I mostly don't comment, because I usually feel out of my depth. I'm a huge believer in the project of the Motte, but it is only in cases where I feel like there is a vacuum of a particular thought that I feel the need to throw my hat into the ring.
I think part of it is that the more heterodox people of the Motte have views forged in fire, and have been forced by necessity to become the best read, most expert exponents of their own ideas due to their having a position that is rare in the rest of society.
Major lurker here. I really appreciate the long-format style and eloquence of posters here, and it is a way a getting in touch with the zeitgeist without having to check the most important news anywhere else. Not to mention, it is one of the few places left in the internet where there is an attempt to engage in meaningful conversation to arrive at the truth, as opposed to bickering and attacking the outgroup. I wish I posted more, but I just don't. There's two main reasons for it:
But that said, I like seeing people who disagree with me arguing so well; some of the posts regarding the game-theory arguments about war and international order have made me see that there's at least a valid reasons (if not enough I think) for Western military interventionism, specially related to Ukraine. And they're very well written; it's not surprising at all there's at least three Substacks from Motte alumni; people here write like they like writing, and I like that.
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Uh... You're like the last person I was thinking of, pretty sure I've seen you around for quite a while.
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I might not agree with you on much, but I think you are a great motter. I was going to say commenter, but it's more than that, it has been obvious to me from almost the first time I read one of your posts that you believe in and appreciate the motte's goals. You should post more.
That applies to a lot of our less frequent posters actually, there are quite a few very insightful lurkers on the motte who should post more. @omw_68 comes to mind and.... Shit, I had another poster I'd spoken to briefly a few weeks ago in mind but now I'm blanking. If you are a lurker and you have interacted with me in the past month, post more.
Thanks . . I try to keep public posting to a minimum. Even on this discussion board, public posting leads to pointless bickering matches with culture warriors. When I get into an argument online, I tend to get so engaged with it that it distracts me from actual, paying work.
I know that Most of What You Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People, of course, but it's always nice when one of the 99%-sane people spends part of their remaining 1% to pop in and confirm.
"Yeah, of course I'm not writing much on discussion forums. I decided to prioritize employment and family and friends and such instead."
It's generally very politely worded, but always wonder if the "I'm just explaining myself" attitude is merely a guise, and the real driving emotion is "I feel sad for you all and wish some of you would take the hint." If so, then thank you very much, but no, I'm sorry, we probably won't.
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Ah shit, you have said that to me before, sorry for dragging you onto the battlefield.
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I think it just tends to happen every time current events are moving fast and there are a lot of big headlines to talk about. More people wanting to talk politics = bigger chance of some of them having dissenting views.
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I don’t see it. Who thinks they need us? Maybe if the substackers came back. But they’re all happily tilling the CW fields.
No, the temperature has just turned up now that the government is actually doing something.
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