site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   2040 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 2, 2023

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.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

but I have a feeling their push for revenues will come at the cost of community it has been able to foster

If this contextless, scale-less graph is in any way representative of the situation, maybe not. The problem with this graph is that long-form comments are what makes up the backbone of why people come to the site, but most people are already using New Reddit for that and, even though it's absolute garbage in terms of user experience, is clearly the accepted solution.

And the website isn't itself changing; so while they might actually kill Old Reddit because that's what's getting scraped once they destroy the API (for load reasons, obviously- it doesn't even need JavaScript to work), most people don't even know it exists. So perhaps it's a gamble (or they're not paying attention) that the people using Old Reddit don't have an outsized contribution to the content other users are consuming on iOS.

Why reddit even wants to be a profitable company is beyond me - why not just become a nonprofit?

(Reddit is, de facto a non-profit company.)

Because that course of action is inconsistent with Bay Area values. So is formally acknowledging the uncomfortable truth that investors continue to fund the site because it pushes a particular political agenda, for that matter.

I'll probably no longer go on reddit myself

I'm going to 4chan. Sure, that means conversations are ephemeral and unsearchable, but the same thing is mostly true for Reddit and completely true for IRC Discord.

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