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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3499 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 17, 2024

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.

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dude is The Vitalist on the site that must not be named

And I think this phrase alone will bring a few thousand to the forum

Except on Twitter that phrase means "Substack". Actually, now that I look at it, the screenshots aren't even from the post on The Motte, they're from the guy's Substack.

I think it’s totally reasonable to deny association with the forum given the content that is sometimes posted

"I don't want my niche hangout to be overrun by normies" is a perfectly fine sentiment and I'm not going to hold it against anyone who made it big, but "I'm going to cash in on a post from my niche hangout, and not give credit, because I'm afraid I'll get cancelled" is very, very low.

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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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