I dunno, maybe it is something with the background scripts on ACX, but I could swear the reason is "the page for any ACX post is like 43 times longer than any non-TV-Tropes webpage needs to be, because the comments section is not truncated like on any other Substack post."
I can't easily find a reference for it, but I think Scott asked for his full comments to be inlined as part of his deal for moving his blog there (which was a big deal for Substack at the time).
I'm not sure if there's an option for it that just nobody else uses, or he's given a special case.
I guess since the comments perform fine in the tiny paginations everyone else has, and he's no longer as important to them since they've grown by orders of magnitude, they've never bothered fixing it.
I know some of you are skeptical. I was too at first, but Substack has gone above and beyond in allaying my concerns. They've let me test out a "no popup telling you to subscribe" feature. They've changed the comment section to be more like WordPress. We've agreed I'm here for a year, but if it goes badly I can leave in 2022 with no hard feelings.
You might be right that the issue lies in the substack comment section, but what I'm saying is that if they implemented it well, it wouldn't be an issue. With today's hardware and infrastructure you should be able to load a book's worth of comments without batting an eye.
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.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I dunno, maybe it is something with the background scripts on ACX, but I could swear the reason is "the page for any ACX post is like 43 times longer than any non-TV-Tropes webpage needs to be, because the comments section is not truncated like on any other Substack post."
I can't easily find a reference for it, but I think Scott asked for his full comments to be inlined as part of his deal for moving his blog there (which was a big deal for Substack at the time).
I'm not sure if there's an option for it that just nobody else uses, or he's given a special case.
I guess since the comments perform fine in the tiny paginations everyone else has, and he's no longer as important to them since they've grown by orders of magnitude, they've never bothered fixing it.
Possible source (after holding the "end" key on my keyboard for five minutes to overcome the infinite scroll on the "archive" page)
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
You might be right that the issue lies in the substack comment section, but what I'm saying is that if they implemented it well, it wouldn't be an issue. With today's hardware and infrastructure you should be able to load a book's worth of comments without batting an eye.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link