The Motte

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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!

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dukeleto 2yr ago (github.com) 1555 thread views

Some potentialy naught strings

github.com

Problem

Innocuous strings which may be blocked by profanity filters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem)

Scunthorpe General Hospital

Penistone Community Church

Lightwater Country Park

Jimmy Clitheroe

Horniman Museum

shitake mushrooms

RomansInSussex.co.uk

http://www.cum.qc.ca/

Craig Cockburn, Software Specialist

Linda Callahan

Dr. Herman I. Libshitz

magna cum laude

Super Bowl XXX

medieval erection of parapets

evaluate

mocha

expression

Arsenal canal

classic

Tyson Gay

Dick Van Dyke

basement

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

dukeleto 2yr ago

test⁧

Zalgo Text

Strings which contain "corrupted" text. The corruption will not appear in non-HTML text, however. (via http://www.eeemo.net)

Ṱ̺̺̕o͞ ̷i̲̬͇̪͙n̝̗͕v̟̜̘̦͟o̶̙̰̠kè͚̮̺̪̹̱̤ ̖t̝͕̳̣̻̪͞h̼͓̲̦̳̘̲e͇̣̰̦̬͎ ̢̼̻̱̘h͚͎͙̜̣̲ͅi̦̲̣̰̤v̻͍e̺̭̳̪̰-m̢iͅn̖̺̞̲̯̰d̵̼̟͙̩̼̘̳ ̞̥̱̳̭r̛̗̘e͙p͠r̼̞̻̭̗e̺̠̣͟s̘͇̳͍̝͉e͉̥̯̞̲͚̬͜ǹ̬͎͎̟̖͇̤t͍̬̤͓̼̭͘ͅi̪̱n͠g̴͉ ͏͉ͅc̬̟h͡a̫̻̯͘o̫̟̖͍̙̝͉s̗̦̲.̨̹͈̣

̡͓̞ͅI̗̘̦͝n͇͇͙v̮̫ok̲̫̙͈i̖͙̭̹̠̞n̡̻̮̣̺g̲͈͙̭͙̬͎ ̰t͔̦h̞̲e̢̤ ͍̬̲͖f̴̘͕̣è͖ẹ̥̩l͖͔͚i͓͚̦͠n͖͍̗͓̳̮g͍ ̨o͚̪͡f̘̣̬ ̖̘͖̟͙̮c҉͔̫͖͓͇͖ͅh̵̤̣͚͔á̗̼͕ͅo̼̣̥s̱͈̺̖̦̻͢.̛̖̞̠̫̰

̗̺͖̹̯͓Ṯ̤͍̥͇͈h̲́e͏͓̼̗̙̼̣͔ ͇̜̱̠͓͍ͅN͕͠e̗̱z̘̝̜̺͙p̤̺̹͍̯͚e̠̻̠͜r̨̤͍̺̖͔̖̖d̠̟̭̬̝͟i̦͖̩͓͔̤a̠̗̬͉̙n͚͜ ̻̞̰͚ͅh̵͉i̳̞v̢͇ḙ͎͟-҉̭̩̼͔m̤̭̫i͕͇̝̦n̗͙ḍ̟ ̯̲͕͞ǫ̟̯̰̲͙̻̝f ̪̰̰̗̖̭̘͘c̦͍̲̞͍̩̙ḥ͚a̮͎̟̙͜ơ̩̹͎s̤.̝̝ ҉Z̡̖̜͖̰̣͉̜a͖̰͙̬͡l̲̫̳͍̩g̡̟̼̱͚̞̬ͅo̗͜.̟

̦H̬̤̗̤͝e͜ ̜̥̝̻͍̟́w̕h̖̯͓o̝͙̖͎̱̮ ҉̺̙̞̟͈W̷̼̭a̺̪͍į͈͕̭͙̯̜t̶̼̮s̘͙͖̕ ̠̫̠B̻͍͙͉̳ͅe̵h̵̬͇̫͙i̹͓̳̳̮͎̫̕n͟d̴̪̜̖ ̰͉̩͇͙̲͞ͅT͖̼͓̪͢h͏͓̮̻e̬̝̟ͅ ̤̹̝W͙̞̝͔͇͝ͅa͏͓͔̹̼̣l̴͔̰̤̟͔ḽ̫.͕

Z̮̞̠͙͔ͅḀ̗̞͈̻̗Ḷ͙͎̯̹̞͓G̻O̭̗̮

Unicode Upsidedown

Strings which contain unicode with an "upsidedown" effect (via http://www.upsidedowntext.com)

˙ɐnbᴉlɐ ɐuƃɐɯ ǝɹolop ʇǝ ǝɹoqɐl ʇn ʇunpᴉpᴉɔuᴉ ɹodɯǝʇ poɯsnᴉǝ op pǝs 'ʇᴉlǝ ƃuᴉɔsᴉdᴉpɐ ɹnʇǝʇɔǝsuoɔ 'ʇǝɯɐ ʇᴉs ɹolop ɯnsdᴉ ɯǝɹo˥

00˙Ɩ$-

Unicode font

Strings which contain bold/italic/etc. versions of normal characters

Ｔｈｅｑｕｉｃｋｂｒｏｗｎｆｏｘｊｕｍｐｓｏｖｅｒｔｈｅｌａｚｙｄｏｇ

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐱 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐠

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖈𝖐 𝖇𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖓 𝖋𝖔𝖝 𝖏𝖚𝖒𝖕𝖘 𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖆𝖟𝖞 𝖉𝖔𝖌

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒙 𝒋𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒈

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝔁 𝓳𝓾𝓶𝓹𝓼 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝔃𝔂 𝓭𝓸𝓰

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕔𝕜 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕗𝕠𝕩 𝕛𝕦𝕞𝕡𝕤 𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕫𝕪 𝕕𝕠𝕘

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚡 𝚓𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚜 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚣𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚐

⒯⒣⒠ ⒬⒰⒤⒞⒦ ⒝⒭⒪⒲⒩ ⒡⒪⒳ ⒥⒰⒨⒫⒮ ⒪⒱⒠⒭ ⒯⒣⒠ ⒧⒜⒵⒴ ⒟⒪⒢

Context

Devon dukeleto 2yr ago

aaaa

Context

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 Realtime Chats

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