What good looks like here
Ideas are what count here — not who said them, not how many followers they have, not how well they write. These are house rules about how we argue, never about what you may think.
- 01
Attack the idea, never the person
An idea can be wrong without its author being stupid. If your argument only works as an insult, it isn't an argument.
- 02
Steelman before you strike
State the strongest version of what you're about to argue against. If you can't, you don't understand it well enough to refute it yet.
- 03
Say what would change your mind
Name the evidence that would make you drop your position. If nothing would, you're not arguing — you're preaching.
- 04
“You're right, I changed my mind” is the strongest move
Everywhere else it reads as losing. Here it's the win condition — it earns a public badge, and it's the only thing we celebrate.
- 05
Stay calm; the temperature is not the argument
Whoever raises their voice first usually ran out of reasons first. Cold, specific and patient beats loud every time.
- 06
Being offended is not being refuted
You're free to say things that upset people, and others are free to tear them apart with arguments. An idea that can't survive questioning was never worth much.
Where we draw the only line
We are as permissive as a place like this can be. Offensive, unpopular and uncomfortable ideas belong here — they're the ones worth testing. What we remove is what isn't an idea at all and makes conversation impossible: spam, doxxing and direct threats. Karl Popper called it the paradox of tolerance: a tolerant place has to be intolerant of what destroys tolerance itself.
And when we do remove something, we never do it quietly — a public mark stays in its place. Moderation you can't see is moderation you can't challenge. Nobody is banned here by one person's decision, and nothing is hidden without leaving a trace.
Disagree with any of this? Good. Post it on the wall and try to change our minds.