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		<h4>What is this place?</h4>
		<p>
			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 <a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/03/framing-for-light-instead-of-heat/">
			optimize for light, not heat</a>; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.<br/><br/>

			The weekly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_war">Culture War</a> 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!<br/><br/>
			
			Check out <a href="https://www.vault.themotte.org/">The Vault</a> for an archive of old quality posts. 
			You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
		</p>

		<br/>
		<h4>Why are you called The Motte?</h4>
		<p>
			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 "<a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/03/all-in-all-another-brick-in-the-motte/">Motte-and-Bailey</a>",
			originally <a href="https://philpapers.org/archive/SHATVO-2.pdf">identified by</a> 
			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."<br/><br/>

			On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
			
		</p>

		<br/>
		<h4>New post guidelines</h4>

		<p>
			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 <strong>highly appreciated</strong>, 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).<br/><br/>

			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.<br/><br/>

			If in doubt, please post it!
		</p>

		<br/>
        <h4><a href="/rules">Rules</a></h4>
		<ul>
			<li><a href="/rules#Courtesy">Courtesy</a>
				<ul>
					<li><a href="/rules#Kindness">Be Kind</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Clarity">Make your point reasonably clear and plain. Try to assume other people are doing the same.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Antagonism">Be no more antagonistic than is absolutely necessary for your argument.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Charity">Be charitable.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Single">Keep to a single account.</a></li>
				</ul>
			</li>
			<li><a href="/rules#Content">Content</a>
				<ul>
					<li><a href="/rules#Effort">Avoid low-effort participation.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Weakman">Do not weakman in order to show how bad a group is.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Culture">Keep culture war in the culture war thread.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Leave">Leave the rest of the internet at the door.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Multiple">Post on multiple subjects.</a></li>
				</ul>
			</li>
			<li><a href="/rules#Engagement">Engagement</a>
				<ul>
					<li><a href="/rules#Disagreement">When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Evidence">Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Timeouts">Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Consensus">Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.</a></li>
					<li><a href="/rules#Inclusion">Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.</a></li>
				</ul>
			</li>
			<li><a href="/rules#The_Wildcard_Rule">The Wildcard Rule</a>
				<ul>
					<li><a href="/rules#Obnoxious">Don't be egregiously obnoxious</a></li>
				</ul>
			</li>
			<li><a href="/rules#The_Metarule">The Metarule</a>
				<ul>
					<li><a href="/rules#Sentiment">Moderation is very much driven by user sentiment. Feel free to report comments or message the mods with your thoughts.</a></li>
				</ul>
			</li>
		</ul>

		<br/>

		<h4>Recommended Posts And Communities</h4>
		<ul>
			{{[
			'<li><a href="https://www.vault.themotte.org/">The Vault</a></li>',
			'<li><a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/">Lesswrong</a></li>',
			'<li><a href="https://astralcodexten.substack.com/">Astral Codex Ten</a></li>',
			'<li><a href="https://www.slatestarcodex.com/">Slate Star Codex</a></li>',
			'<li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/FeMRADebates/">FeMRA Debates</a></li>',
			]|shuffle|join('\n')|safe}}
		</ul>

		<h4>Recommended Realtime Chats</h4>
		<ul>
			{{[
			'<li><a href="https://discord.gg/Hkyq5eN">Astral Codex Ten Discord</a></li>',
			'<li><a href="https://t.me/quokkas_den">Quokka\'s Den Telegram</a></li>',
			]|shuffle|join('\n')|safe}}
		</ul>
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