About StoaCentral

What StoaCentral Is

StoaCentral is a community for those who take Stoicism seriously as a practical philosophy. We focus on reason, character, responsibility, and the application of Stoic principles to everyday life.

What StoaCentral Is Not

• A political battleground
• A culture-war platform
• A motivational quote dump
• A place for outrage, dunking, or moral grandstanding
• A marketplace for attention

If something distracts from clarity, discipline, or virtue, it does not belong here. Please refer to the rules & principles if you haven't done so already.

What We Mean by Stoicism

Stoicism is often misunderstood as emotional suppression or passive endurance. That is not the tradition practiced here.

At StoaCentral, Stoicism means exercising judgment, practicing virtue, and learning to distinguish between what is within our control and what is not. It is about acting well regardless of outcome.

Classical texts matter.

How to Participate

Speak from experience. Ask sincere questions. Disagree calmly and without contempt.

This community values thoughtful contribution over volume, humility over posturing, and improvement over validation.

On Moderation

Moderation exists to preserve the purpose of the space. Decisions are made to protect clarity, reason, and mutual respect, not popularity or engagement metrics. Moderation here is intentionally restrained. Removal or bans are rare, but when they occur, they are final.

Who's behind StoaCentral

StoaCentral is maintained by Matt Fay, a software developer and lifelong student of Stoic philosophy.

Like many, he came to Stoicism not as an academic pursuit, but as a practical one, a way to think clearly, endure difficulty, and live with intention in a modern world that rarely encourages any of those things.

Matt has previously ran MettaStoic, a website that no longer exists (although some blog posts still remain on Medium: https://medium.com/mettastoic), and is the admin of 10,000 member Stoic Facebook group.