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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   Edited 2yr ago   7813 thread views

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I really got used to how Reddit’s Context and Permalink works: one comment tree, reaching backwards through its parents, without any siblings. If I wanted to read more of what led to a particular comment, I’d hit Parent until I saw what I needed.

Any plans to make that a user switchable setting?

We're actually just planning to implement that; not switchable, just behave-like-that-by-default. I think one of our devs is actually working on that at the moment (though I wasn't expecting it to take this long, either it's more complicated than we thought or they've just been busy with other stuff, which is entirely possible.)

That's great. I opened this thread to ask for either that or reducing the default to context=2. Loading the whole thread every time you open a comment in a new tab sucks, for my shitty phone and probably for the server.

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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!

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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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