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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32960 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 13, 2023

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This is not what the community is looking for in moderation. Do better.

For example, better moderation would look like "This is not what we are looking for in a top-level post. We are looking for comments with features X and Y, and without Z, and your comment (while having X) has not enough Y and too much Z."

Also, as the comment reads as not at all antagonistic to me, you should really specify what exactly in it you find antagonistic. As it is, the moderation looks capricious and tells me nothing at all about what I should post to avoid a similar ban.

My original comment has been edited to add explanation

Thanks and much appreciated.

For example, better moderation would look like

I disagree. The less the moderator inserts himself into the moderation the better. I am not writing comments to appease the moderator. I am here to appease my own vanity. To that end I am writing comments to a standard that reflects what I want other comments to look like. I am here because the stated goals of the motte align with mine. The more the moderator inserts himself into the motte, the less space there is for my aspirational fantasy of what the motte is.

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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."

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