site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   6179 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 12, 2023

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.

6
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

It seems to me that much of that was driven by the now largely predictable and frankly boring phenomenon of 'disaffected leftist commenter gets outraged by reactionary garbage mottizens and makes a scene'.

We were tracking well above average even before that.

By volume, quite a lot was "garbage reactionary mottezens make largely predictable and frankly boring replies to leftist commenter".

The only feasible, practical alternative to that is banning disaffected leftist trolls.

And have The Motte turn into yet another boring right-wing circlejerk? No thanks. It's better even to have some leftist trolls on here than to have no leftist opinions at all. The soup must be stirred if it is to be tasty.

Anyway though, I am not sure who you mean by leftist trolls. What would be an example of it in your opinion?

Let's not pretend that the interwebz is full of "boring right-wing circlejerks". In fact, they're exceedingly rare, and on Reddit, nonexistent.

Frankly I find it hard to believe that your question is earnest. When referring to the act of trolling, I'm using the Merriam Webster definition of "trolling". That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

That still leaves "garbage reactionary mottezens make largely predictable and frankly boring replies to each other", which is even more tiresome. Leftist trolls bring some novelty.

It's time to accept that a forum where people can freely post opinions is going to attract mostly right-wingers and eventually turn into a moderate-to-right-wing pipeline.

People with opinions that don't get them banned from 99% of social media, disparaged in national news or fired don't need to wander off to niche websites, unless they are especially intellectually curious.

Why bother having discussions about intersectionality and the correct way to respect women on anonymous websites when you can have them attached to your real name and boost your social status?

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

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!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


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.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats