My silence today has nothing to do with illness or business.
It's because I'm sitting here, staring at what's been going on today, and not being able to pick up much of anything useful that others aren't catching themselves in multiple rereads of this topic (I've slowly - slowly! compiled this over... well, shit. Estimated five rereads, front to back, of the topic).
Looking at Andrew's recent post: lolwhat? I've never claimed cop falsely, nor have I even had a normal cop role of any sanity in IRC or board mafia. You're thinking Carthrat, assuming -my- memory serves me correctly.
Looking at Patchycloud: Ai. This feels like a Day 1 lynchpress more than anything else. The hammer seems to be a void tell to me, but the confusion regarding whether or not she knew what the votecount was is... well, the main thing is that she said "to -help- lynch someone", which gives the impression to me that she did not know the precise votecount at the time she clicked "post", but instead the votecount around when she began typing; looking at the timing and the second-to-last official votecount, this would have been... eight-eight.
...okay, yeah, I'm suddenly not seeing her defense here; a vote for Tom or Strago would have been appropriate with that timing and the fact that her entire wall of text (yes, I read it) seems to rail against the Tom possibilites but then votes Strago... zhuifdsb. That... okay. I need to think on that, but yeah, this is probably the most suspicious of the current cases, in retrospect.
Looking at Nitori: He's posting even more than he did when he was scum (and Excal/I were punching him to post something). If I had known telling him that his brevity or slight lack thereof in every game was how I've been able to figure out which side he was on in in said games would get him to actually be something resembling active (better than I, I'm afraid), then I should have done it as soon as I figured it out. Blah. Downside is I'm not sure how to take New Nitori. A few statements have struck me as odd here and there, but nothing much. Also, the fact that he seems to actually be giving fresh looks on things? I think it's the apocalypse. Hold me, Flandre.
Looking at Alex: Shale and Patchy have both at least indirectly raised the point that Alex seems to be taking on different stances than usual this game (I, too, was kindasorta surprised to see a "don't vote claimed cop day 1" comment, but since it's policy I agree with...) This being said, I'm not seeing anything directly suspicious thus far here, either.
My attention has mainly been at the last two people to jump on Strago after EvilTom's cop claim - the people who could conceviably hide under "additional pressure" while still hoping to cause trouble for people who don't agree with the EvilTom lynch. People after the cop claim have the excuse of avoiding lynching a claimed cop, people on EvilTom... mrr, I've not the slightest of what to think regarding the votes for EvilTom right now. And a few votes on a lurker don't surprise me (again, pot, kettle, black, hi), so I'm not that greatly worried about the initial few ones (though they, too, merit examination - reference my behavior in Discworld Mafia against Nitori, though he was scum too... well, hey, it still kinda applies. >_>).
So. Right after the copclaim, we had the votes...
Strago (6): Nitori, Gatewalker, AndrewRogue, El Cideon, EvilTom, Anonymous. (patchucloud had unvoted Strago at this point.)
EvilTom is a confirmed townie. He also made me drunk on Master Spark.
Nitori started the press, from all appearances, and Gatewalker seconded.
AndrewRogue and El Cideon are, thus, the two remaining people I'm fairly suspicious of.
Andrew's post (for reference, two pages after Gate's and 3 hours afterward):
I'm going to step up and defend Tom very gently here by saying that, as bad as he can look, that is the way he ends up playing. Yes, it has problems, but he's getting jumped on for the stuff he always does, which... feels problematic to me. Does it seem scummy? Yeah. I've been on him in the past for it, but... mrgh. He's playing the same way he always does, which doesn't quite sync with scum.
So for now... bleh. I guess... pressure Strags. I'm not comfortable with QR's response regarding "I know I'm not scum," but it isn't enough to press at this point
##Unvote: QR
##Vote: Strago
After a post by patchy, El Cid also jumped in...
##Unvote: Oblivionknight
OK started talking, which was all I wanted out of him.
I'm hesitant to jump on the Tom train, for a couple reasons. Hal made some excellent reasons for voting Tom, which I do agree with. It can be used as a smokescreen...but that can work either way. My fear is that it makes an excellent excuse for scum to jump on a train without appearing suspicious. Almost every game I've seen with Tom has started out like this. The fact that he's acting no different than usual tells us what, exactly? In my experience, going after the most talkative person day one rarely turns out well.
I have to agree with Nitori's perspective here. The guy's being very vocal and getting other people talking. Somewhat acrimoniously, in fairness, but there are worse things to do on day one--like lurk incessantly. If you're voting for Tom saying his behavior's a distraction and lets the quiet folks slip through the cracks, well, fair enough. I can understand that. But why not prod the people who are doing exactly that at the same time. Is it that hard to do so?
I'm just wary of the whole endeavor right now. I will join the train if we've reached the end of the game-day without a better candidate, because I believe the deadline shouldn't have do the work for us and I feel my vote should reflect this policy. But there's close to a day to the deadline still, and right now I'd really rather nudge some lurkers into activity. So, Strago? Barely exists in this game (apart from making an admittedly amusing opening post, but that doesn't count for much). Got a couple votes on him already, but needs the pressure. Really, I feel more comfortable dropping my vote here than on what looks to me like the usual day one townie bitchfest.
##Vote: Strago
And... mrrr. What do I read from this? Well... El Cid's commentary gives me nothing read-wise, town or scum. Andrew's... the whole "defend very gently" thing feels like defense without really wanting to associate name with, which... ai, I don't know.
This being said.
To Corwin's response, AndrewRogue's latest post: Uh. Um... I'm missing why what Andrew said is a bad thing, here. I really am. He is saying that: presuming the realcop investigates the claimedcop day 1, and learns they are town, they -should- out them.
...this is a reasonable suggestion. I understand your hesitation about talking about this, but remember how limited scum are to town. A one-for-one hit is a good thing, and there is indeed the chance for protection at night, letting the cop act again.
He did NOT say to out the false cop day 1 at any point in this post, unless I am greviously missing something. In fact, he said that wasn't a good idea - or is that not what he meant by
An immediate counterclaim is bad
?
Your "lying eyes" do indeed deceive you, there.
For now, this is the weirdest thing out there to me.
##Vote: Corwin