Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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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.
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Notes -
I will never stop being nostalgic for the old internet. SomethingAwful included, despite Goons becoming a cult that decided to attack the entire rest of the internet later in it's life. Articles like ION Storm Begins Work on "Deus Ex" Sequel, "Deus Goatse Secx". Worry not, all the images are broken on that archive.org link. Or their evergreen review of the Water Closet hentai game. I never went to their forums, but sometimes stories would leak off them and go viral. Like a story about an insane college roommate who apparently had a psychotic break, and the POV narrator who essentially barricaded his door to ignore it, and came and went through the window. Or the guy who sniffed his sisters panties, and then a fellow goon doxed him and told his family.
I also have an intense fondness for Stile Project. Sure, there was the pornography. And terrible shock sites to trick my friends into viewing. But it was also funny, and kind of like Blues News... just with extra pornography. Basically my one stop shop from the ages of 16 to 25.
Then there were the random blogs that would blow up. Like The Misanthropic Bitch, Old Man Murray, someone even did a blog in the form of a scientist from Half-Life. Which funnily enough, is where I heard about KMFDM for the first time and decided to check them out.
There was just some different quality to the internet back then. When everything was word of mouth on small forums, IRC chatrooms, or game lobbies. Before the algorithm homogenized all internet consumption, and caused every aspiring content creator to develop schizophrenia simultaneously.
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