I moderated my accusation of Megatron because it had been in part based on a mistake of fact, and once that mistake was revealed it seemed only right to re-assess the degree of suspicion he deserved. Moreover, your own absence - from a debate that you had helped begin, and where your input, therefore, would be most welcome - was being rather keenly felt at that point, but none other had seen fit to call attention to it. I imagined my vote might do some good prompting you to speak.
In addition, I must say I would not be upset if someone had voted for me for similar reasons, during one of my regrettable absences from the field of play. And while it's true that your circumstances could well be the same as my own, I think it better never to assume such things. Too much pressure where it is not deserved can be apologized for, and attention refocused elsewhere; too little is not so easily remedied. And indeed, now that you are speaking again I see little in your post to attribute to malice or duplicity, and therefore can conclude that my vote has served its purpose.
##UnvoteOn to Gollum, and my response to him. He made the claim that I had said nothing original. It might be self-evident that the first response to his post would have nothing to copy from, but it is true nonetheless. In any case, I disagree that Gollum's prior statements regarding Ms. von Karma are in any way an explanation of the vote he cast in her direction. As I mentioned previously, this may say more about his use of the Queen's English than his thought processes, but no matter how many times I read
What's that Precious? Oh yes, Precious, I'm still watching that nasty, vile lawyerses too! Has something to hide she does, keeping things back and saying we all should. And what with her hurting the nice, sweet man who's saying the things that will help protect the Precious. Yes, I thinks we should be well wary of her.
I cannot see what he suddenly found so seriously wrong with the lawyer as to push her within a vote of doom without an intervening post from her direction.
Moreover, you quote his remark about "making vile lawyerses talk" as if I had not acknowledged it. But I did:
He said he voted for Ms. von Karma to "make her talk," but asked no questions of her, expressed no suspicion. He ruminated on Master Yoda's motives for pressing her without voting, and then apparently decided to cast the Jedi's vote for him, without making any arguments of his own for Franziska's guilt.
I still find this disturbing, perhaps even more so in hindsight now that I have had some time to let his argument play back in my mind. Review again the three reasons he eventually gave for his vote.
1) To force her to understand the seriousness of her situation, and specifically to claim her role if such she has. So he was trying to force a roleclaim with barely one-half of the day expended (but never explicitly mentioned when he voted), and then backed off without getting it. I suppose I should be grateful he declined to follow through on such a dangerous strategy, but it makes me wonder if that reason was truly in his head when he cast the vote.
2) A vote not cast is a vote wasted, and Franziska seemed "strange" enough to merit one. Elaboration on that point would be much appreciated, as "seemed strange" is thin justification to place one so close to death, and I still find it unsettling that he would throw his full weight behind the accusation without substantial discussion to balance it out.
3) Better to vote for a target around whom a consensus might form than for one whose metaphorical train is gathering no steam. A touch more crowd-following than I'd like, but logical enough I suppose. But then he withdrew that vote and placed one on me, joining exactly no one in that effort. When there were almost 24 hours left to us, he was reluctant to cast his lot for any of the suspects with just one vote, but with 12 remaining on the clock he was content to strike out on his own.
Inconsistent in the extreme, I think.
Hm. And now Captain Highwind...speaks, I suppose one could call that. He speaks truth about Captain Sparrow, but the pirate's conduct seems to me no worse than Megatron's very limited contributions, nearly all in defense of a single vote cast on the first page, including an accusation that might be termed by the vernacular "OMGUS," even in the face of direct calls for more breadth - or Gollum's spotty, specious argument against Ms. von Karma.
I should be content with a formal accusation against either of them this evening, and must confess that I feel some conflict as to whom to cast a vote for now. Megatron's condemnation would be acceptable, as I said, but to bring his total to four votes against Gollum's one would give the conclusion a veneer of inevitability that I would rather avoid, when there is still some hope of answers from our formerly hobbitty friend. Therefore I will cast a vote for Gollum, and watch the next few hours carefully to make sure that I do not assist a stalemate in the process.
##Vote Gollum
