Part 3: Excal
Doing this post-by post as needed. Going through every single post unless there's nothing to go off of. This is stuff I had wanted to do day 1, and re-analyzing it.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13157#msg13157Ok, first post. Call out of Ryogo, which doesn't seem too bad. Day 1, post #10, so we have jack nothing for the most part. It was noted at the start of the topic that names are not a tell-all, but it is very early for a claim nonetheless - despite the fact they don't mean much. Decent enough call on being curious for the early claim, as it is odd, though it really doesn't say anything in particular - granted, still something to look at. I'm somewhat confused on the "tripping anyone else up" thought - what do you mean by that, Excal? Are you saying it doesn't look like it would trip someone else up? Looking back on it, that's an odd way to phrase it, whatever you mean. Overall, not bad.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13180#msg13180Mentions to put a 3rd vote on a "spurious, but fractionally real, cause to see if I can get something goin". And he's got a good point here - 3 votes isn't going to hurt anything, and it does get some discussion starting. The Otter comment...honestly, that's a bit off. It seems like Excal is suggesting that Otter is suggesting he'd not have done anything if Alex wasn't able to beat him to it? I don't get that - looking at the time differences, it seems like Otter probably was posting after Alex was (damnit, I need to set the time on the forums to a standard I use, as an aside), and made sure to edit in his own comments in regards to what Alex said. It seems like Excal was/is calling out Otter there to say that he wouldn't provide content if Alex hadn't said something? The, "suggesting" line strikes me as a push to put suspicion on Otter, or to put excess watchings on him. This being done early on...is odd. Now, granted, before that, Carth does say he wants Otter to talk more about the game and less about theory of the game. I suppose Excal's comment could be in response to Carth's, a further push to make sure Otter talks about the actual game and not theory? The wording still puts me a bit off.
"Ryogo, don't sweat it too much. We need to jump on the small stuff in order to get bigger better stuff to jump on. Besides, day 1 is the day of someone's gonna get lynched for a really poor reason. All you can really do is hope that your small screwup isn't the one that's gonna catch everyone's fancy. And if it is, well, do what you can to leave something in your final words for the people who're gonna be continuing the job after you're gone."
Is the final section of the text. Giving help to a newbie is good. Day 1 is the day of someone getting lynched for a very poor reason, usually a small slip-up...ok, I can buy that. Leaving something in the final words for people to continue the job...good. The oddest part of this text is the wording about Otter, which I find...a bit suggestive.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13187#msg13187This post struck me as odd. This is the beginning of the "What the Hell is the Logic?" fad.
"Ryogo, you're still four votes away from hammer. And oddly enough, even if those four votes were sitting in my back pocket, I've somehow refrained from using them."
Is he saying he wants to nuke Ryogo? I was under the impression he had just said he voted to start a "spurious, but fractionally real, cause to see if I can get something goin". This is also exacerbated by the next paragraph:
"No, you're more use to me as a conversation starter. Both on the merits for lynching you (I'm sure there must be some!) or the merits for lynching me for so heartlessly tossing you up to three votes. Though... honestly, Alex seemed to be the only one phased by the fact that I tried to place a semi-serious first vote on you. I'm fine with Alex for his response, Ryogo seems a touch concerned over his own well being, but I'll chalk that up to his wanting to actually play in his first game."
Wait...huh? I understand what you're saying - he's more useful as a conversation starter, which fits in with what you said earlier. But now...in between the other post and this second paragraph, you say that even if you you had the power to nuke him, you've...somehow refrained from using that power. Alright, that's actually not an issue - the issue is pushing off on people in the next paragraph. But to finish up this paragraph - Alex being the only one to put a question to you for a semi-serious vote? It seems like Excal is setting a trap, or intending to trap someone or something here:
"But, Rat, Shale, Otter and Sopko. Why'd you guys all blithly sail by that with nary a mention? It seems a curious thing to pass by with either nothing, or a ho hum noting that we've got a really quick three-vote going here. In fact, the more I think on it, the more that disturbs me."
Carth DID mention this, in post #16 (after Alex's calling out of Ryogo's "train"):
"I was planning to bandwagon someone, anyone from the very start. Ryogo was good enough for me. Two votes on one guy is more likely to create an interesting start than two votes on two guys. Nothing really yet stands out in particular to me as scummy anyhow. Good as anything to leave it on him. The usual 'everyone votes for everyone else' web of argument doesn't usually help much, I like this more."
So blithly sailing by that? Carth's logic was already stated (god rest his poor soul). It looks like you're trying to trap people - you stated earlier that -4 to lynch wasn't even a risk? And now you're going after people who aren't arguing that you had put him there? After saying that it wasn't a problem, you now make it out to be a problem? Honestly, you blithly sailed by Carth's comments to put some pressure on 4 people it seems. Why aren't you putting pressure on yourself and following your own thought process (convoluted as it is)?
To whit, all 4 of those people have commented on this afterwards, so they answered your question specifically.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13201#msg13201"The thing is, Shale. As has been pointed out, name claiming doesn't help one way or the other. Everyone is covered, and I doubt El Cid's gonna bastard mod like Alex did in FFT. I know why I jumped on him. Because it was a great seed for debate. But you seem to actually see some merit in looking at the claim. Is it just because it's unusual?"
Wait....you put a vote on him with the original basis of "why the early nameclaim"? Then go back on that logic in an attempt to trap people who went with that? An early nameclaim is odd (and an early roleclaim even odder!), yes, which Shale remarked about in post #26:
"Claiming, even just nameclaiming, in your first post is unusual. Unusual things are worth exploring, especially early in the game when there's little else to do besides joke around. Like I said, being weird doesn't make it lynchworthy, but that doesn't preclude pressure votes. "
And you still asked him, "are you seeing merit because it's unusual"? Paying attention is important.
"Rat, when are you planning to start jumping down people's throats then, if you don't mind my asking? We have to start conversation sooner or later. And while I admit that reading too closely early on just tends to lead to bad arguments that reveal nothing, that doesn't mean that we should be incapable of aggressive reading early on. After all, we need to get our foundation somehow, yes?"
So is not unstating things you've said. Aggressive reading early on? In the same sentence, you say it's good and bad early on. We do need a foundation somehow, yes, but didn't you say someone gets lynched for a bad reason? And that we build from there? You're...honestly, this is confusing as hell. Rat was pushing for conversation with the votes on Ryogo - I was under the impression it had started, partly from YOU with that odd as hell logic of trying to trap people who should have seen the extra vote you added that was serious despite the acclimation that there was reasoning behind it but we should have seen it as an issue?
Rest of the post...bleh. Somewhat addled a bit on the "the mistake might not have happened yet" part, but not sure what to make of it.
As an interlude...why are you making a scummy point and trying to get people to pick up on it, when you yourself are saying not to make huge mistakes because they can get people killed? Are you looking for suicide?
Now I will concede Corwin has a point that you did point it out. But you kept the vote instead of dropping it, and also had almost ignored several of the comments about it (Carth, Shale), and ignored/convoluted some points (Shale) as well. Zuh?
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13236#msg13236Ok...a bit better explanation?
"Let's begin with something very clear here. My vote and the rational behind it were no accident, nor was there any scrambling to come up with a reason for it after the fact. As such, I felt no need to remove my vote. Of course, now I do have a reason. We just went through prime time for Aussies, and still no Smodge. And that is a troublesome development, so..."
Not really. I am not very clear on it. You were trying to trap people? If that's it, I'm very clear, and I'm wondering how effective that can be on day 1, where, as you said, "someone will get lynched for a bad reason". In this case, if people jumped on it, that's 4 people dead (one of which is confirmed town). WHY was your vote and rationale no accident? You still wanted the vote on him? You did find Ryogo bad? Or did you not find him bad, but wanted it there anyway? The change to smodge...eh. That's fine. The agreement text with Rat is good too. Still...I'm still not fully clear on the effectiveness of the logic you're using.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13312#msg13312Mmm...
"Rat, you wound me! You make it sound like I ever meant poor Ryogo any harm. I didn't then, and like several people here, I've been getting to like him more as he goes along. Despite his hesitant support of No Lynch given how he goes about it. That vote, along with the pressure I laid on the people who didn't find it suspicious, was there entirely to get people talking. And, with the possible exception of Tom, I'm honestly finding it a bit worrysome that some people still think I was seriously after him."
I thought you had said he's useful to you as a converstion starter, dead or alive (mmm...sexy women playing volleyball...). Surely, dead means he's got some harm come to him. While this is a good explanation, compared to what we had, I'm still...wary about it, with everything else that you've mentioned. If you were pressuring him with a vote, you should have taken it off and thrown it to someone else when it was done. Leaving it there makes it look like you WANTED him dead. Considering you had said previously that your vote and rationale were no accident...why did you leave it on. Yes, you said why, but really, why? If it was just to get people talking, which it did, then why not jump to a lurker? smodge had been off for plenty of time to go LaL on anyway, which is the best way to go. Granted, yes, modkill, but that came after the smodge vote anyway.
"Now... I suppose one of these days I'll figure out how to properly write one of these posts without a fire lit under me, or driven by some grand theory or something else. But... there's always a bit more research to do, and then an amusing tangent to follow..."
Uh...what? One of these what posts? Grand theory? You really were trying to do something? I'd like this explained a bit.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13384#msg13384"...I'm not going to defend my duality"
...huh? I thought you...did that? I'm tempted to stop this now and just say the deal's done, but...you did try to defend it. You did say there was a purpose to it. Are you saying you wouldn't have explained things if we didn't have a new guy here? (and you only mention scaring away Ryogo - Keeshi, while not new to mafia, is new to the boards - why not mention her?) You would have LET us be confused by things? An indignant post, mostly. Though he does make a point that there is some trick reasoning in Andy's argument.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13444#msg13444Mostly wondering why, if you didn't like Andrew's reasoning, that you took the vote off of him. "I can't do anything about it now" isn't good - push it, and if you feel it's bad, keep it there.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13484#msg13484"...I have no strong feelings at the moment"
Uh...I thought Andy's argument bugged you? You changed your vote to Keeshi nonetheless, but say you do have one or two people you would put up there for targets, as the vote indicates?
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13495#msg13495Personal attack on Otter about why mafia is dying here what what what? Then waving it off. Much better way to have done that.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13533#msg13533Vote for me on account of LaL. Which is fine, but was I one of the people you mentioned earlier you had for a target? I would assume so, since you had mentioned I should show up earlier.
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=673.msg13741#msg13741Ok, this is the first and only post thus far after the last post. The last-second switches...ugh. I'm not getting it. There was a lot else going on at that time period. While I do admit there could be scum activity in here...I don't think Carth was breadcrumbing anything, and it's a lot of assumptions and what-ifs that will get us raped in the ass.
So!
My vote on Excal basically goes for a lot of logic questioning. I'm veryconfused, and the jump to Otter today almost seems like...well, a jump to pin something on someone else when things weren't going your way. That's a lot of shaky thoughts to put on to Otter, so...yeah. This isn't something I'm getting, and the attempt to trap and get people to jump into it strikes me as scummier more than town. Town does not deceive on purpose.
And Keeshi posts...and claims cop. Oh boy.
To be continued in Part 4: Return of the Keeshi. And I thought this one took a while.