Ok!
Posting here first for formatting and any potential comment you may have, but my idea is simple; I want to interact with as many players as possible so in the not-so-unlikely scenario that we're mislunched, town has more information to look at in D4.
That's assuming we don't get night-killed, but since we'll probably get some heat today and a newbie may be considered easy to influence in late-game, I'm not really expecting it (unless mafia somehow thinks we have a PR).
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Preliminary note; I seem to recall at least one game last season in which a pre-typed post was frowned upon because it was read as a mafia strategy. I abstained from doing it N1 for that reason, but Monkey did it no problem so I thought why not. It helps when things aren't moving that frantically.
This list was started yesterday as per Terraforce's request. Trying to be less descriptive - as advised - here are some thoughts;
Verollo: Liked Verelios' big post linking Sorian and Fantomas, and his later reads on a bunch of players. He may be mafia for all I know, but at least appears to be trying to advance the game. I don't understand the "divorced feeling" he gets from SkyOdin though. You mean from his couple
@Verelios?
In regards to Apollo, it's hard to get a gauge of her alignment from a few posts. Can't remember the game but I seem to think she was usually more active last season. Also refused to vote us because she liked my D1 stuff, giving a similar reason for not voting Terraforce. If possible I'd like for her to expand on this considering the last EoD.
Town-reading this pair, especially because of Verelios' efforts (aware that that could pretty well be NAI).
Dr. Stuart: By defending the notion that gossips aren't necessarily mafia on the first half of D2 they kind of indirectly defended us from that Sorian vote too (which was based on a wrong read of my question anyways) but that's obviously NAI. Happy that the Monkey vs Sorian eternal fight is over though.
But being honest my thoughts are a mess here. Both have been super nice and helpful in our exchanges and I do think they're good players who I look up to, but ever since the concept of pocketing was explained to me trying to form a thought of them is hard due to those kind words coloring my view. Where's the line between genuine courtesy and interested praise? Making things worse is the fact that pointing it out sounds ungrateful (don't want to quote but Monkey defended it as being "decent to a new player"), so unsure on how to tackle this pair. I can't get either a clean mafia or town read out of you, but I'll be closely watching for anything shady. If your plan was to mess with my thoughts then know that you succeded.
To the null zone they go.
AbsolutFat (or whatever): basically town unless something that casts doubt on the cop claim happens. That would be the time to reassess. Eager to see Fat4All's playstyle since the only thing I associate with that avatar are some funny posts all over ResetEra.
Funky Dude Geno: Haven't really engaged with Sparky because... I don't think I know how? There was some post in which he read us as mafia (forgive me if this wasn't the case!) and I thought of engaging then, but it was so weirdly phrased that I thought you... whatever.
In regards to Geno there were two things that stood out to me;
1. The Stuart push (that's a closed case so i don't want to comment too much on it).
2. Your fierce defense of Zippedpinhead at EoD, which was a bit of an overreaction at first before slowing down. You weren't alone in this (Fantomas was weird too, more about that later) but there were plenty of posters (Verelios, flatearthpandas, Monkey, etc.) who thought it wasn't a slip and pausedly worded a post about it.
This is more of a consequence of a read on another couple (Fantopinhead) but you have to be consistent with your arguments... so I'm thinking mafia on this pair.
Natforce: I've said to my partner on our chat that I like Terraforce's playstyle, since he seems ready to jump when anything looks fishy. Now this could be read as me playing nice to him after the posts in which he expressed being uncomfortable with us, and that's honestly a fair thought, but I've yet to find anything shady in his posts. Looking forward to talking with him a bit more today.
Natiko is a bit weirder. Although I do think he is putting good work (some of his stuff revisiting multiple posters is basically how I'd like my long posts to turn out) he... isn't really happy with it? What? And that vote jump that someone pointed out at EoD... it doesn't help things that he thinks Kyandonna is part of the baddies, and that's like my strongest town-read this game. Disagreement is not a good argument to distrust someone, but it certainly will lead me to watch him closely D3.
Balancing both leads to a null slightly leaning town.
Coolest_Prodigy: Regarding Lone_Prodigy, can't remember íf it was Maple Street or HoH, but I loved how effective - for lack of a better term - they were while still keeping a low profile.
That CoolestSpot's double-vote reveal was so casual, but as far as I've espectated (and that's admitedly not so much!) it's usually a town ability. So I'd reassess if anything contradictory arises, but they're a town-read for now.
Pirate Malus: Although I wasn't a fan of Pirate Bae being so vague with the stuff that happened on N1, I liked her posts closer to EoD. Mostly agreed with her Vere/Terraforce thoughts.
I don't get how our interactions with other players would make for a good info. lunch (it's basically WIFOM if I'm using the term correctly) but I'll share something with you. Today and tomorrow are far better days for me to play (not so much friday but whatever) so I'll be actively trying to engage with a variety of posters. That could lead you to think I'm trying to mess with the potential info. an hypothetical mafia!Rexbro flip could get you, considering the change in activity at least as shady. That's fair, so go with that argument if you must.
I don't have a strong opinion of malus, so add him to the list of people I'll have to look at today (this is getting too big!) but I'm trusting the cop claim. Not because of the green-check - any mafia player could give a real green-check, as has been pointed out - but because we have yet to see a counter-claim (it may be too early for that though?). If things change I'll reassess, but right now they're town for me.
TheSkyChugger: I liked SkyOdin's stuff D1, it seemed like he was making good points and actively engaging. Same can be said about Chugg, but I'd like to hear Verelios' comment on this before commiting to a full read of the couple.
BrawaveZ: I do find it odd to be constantly doubting Brazil due to a different amount of activity in comparison to past games considering his explanation for that. Especially seeing that when he posts, the content and mafia-hunting is there. In this regard it's pretty similar to my read on Verelios. As far as I remember he avoided voting either Monkey or Sorian at EoD, and ultimately agreed on the SkyOdin vote... with Verelios. Similar, huh?
It's FluxWaveZ who feels more fishy to me. This argument could very well collapse on its own, and it's ironic to write this since it's kind of similar to the way Xbro and I approach the game, but it reads like the majority of his short posts are pointing out the smallest details. Like a baddie who's ready to help start a fire on anyone who's not aligned with him. Worst of all is I actually agree with some of his stuff, and that's not the playstyle I'd like to develop nor think it's the most effective.
Null slightly, just slightly leaning mafia for these two.
Raxander or something: drawing a blank here, although I do remember Vincent Alexander's EoD vote feeling a bit empty before the alledged slip. I seem to remember he shared some reads so I'll go check that before passing judgement.
Fake edit: rac doubled down on the Pirate Bae vote right? I think some veteran also said that he wouldn't let a claimed PR surviving a night phase alone, so I'd guess he's being consistent. Although that contradicts my read of her - and it makes no sense to continue pushing for it until we have more information - I do think it's just a misplaced vote, so this is a light town couple right now.
Kyonna: As said in an earlier post, town-leaning here. I'd go as far as to say they're the ones I town-read the most, based on looking up all of their posts and finding nothing fishy. The only thing they said that contradicted my impression was Donna answering she felt they were working well as a couple when the vote on D1 was split. I don't really want to go there though since Natiko already did and they both voted S-Dubs D2, so it really looks like a coordinated pair as of late. By the way thank you both for answering my questions!
FlatearthStan: To be brutally honest I don't have anything here. That's on me though because I hate hate hate Stantastic's avatar - only beaten in my scary-meter by ElFotografoAlocado's - and I just scroll down fast when I see it. Null for now I guess, I'll ask my partner to read them.
Fantopinhead: I don't think Zippedpinhead's "slip" warranted a vote there, but he basically handwaved it. That isn't enough though, right? Well, Fanto has been definitely playing in a different way than past games (I hope it works for you!), but I have to agree with two points raised by others;
1. He seemed a bit too worried about Verelios after his posts linking him to Sorian (although admittedly his focus was Natiko).
2. He got extremely defensive over that whole Zippedpinhead alleged slip just because of a few votes. I could see a timeline in which that could have turned out worse for them, but that looked a bit unwarranted at the time. There may be another explanation to this but I don't really want to go there now, and we could eventually end up there depending on how the day plays out.
Now I do agree that Zippedpinhead "slip" is weird, but if I'm reading veterans right slips are extremely rare ocurrences. I don't get the panic over it, to the point of calling out someone (Monkey) who articulated thoroughly why it could be real but still deciding against voting there. And all of this leads to...
Wouldn't vote today: Verollo, AbsolutFat, Coolest_Prodigy, Pirate Malus, Kyonna.
Would vote today: Fantopinhead, Funky Dude Geno. In fact, and just to avoid the EoD situation I've been in already;
VOTE:Fantomas
This is something I told Xbro at the time, but that post by Pirate Bae trashing our stuff so far and the Fantomas vote shortly after were timed in a... weird way. Now, as said above, I'm not thinking Pirate Malus are mafia, but that doesn't mean that didn't read coordinated at the time. Including the later votes on us from that pair.
I can see Fanto's argument (wanting to start another train and trusting other players' reads) but Kyanrute points out something interesting I hadn't noticed, questioning it;
Why are both of your alternatives to Sorian on people you haven't seemingly touched at all today? You've done work I'll give you that, but there was not much I saw on Xbro or Chuggs. All the work and you go for those you haven't talked with or expressed prior suspicion of?
Yeah
@Fantomas, I don't remember talking too much with you. Do you have any questions? Do you mind me asking some?
Now... there's something that gives me pause, as a certain Dr. likes to say. I liked Verelios' post about the Sorian/Fantomas link, and it turns out that Sorian flipped town. It could be just town!Fantomas following the lead of Sorian and trusting their reads/votes. But one of B-Dubs' final comments was;
Also, this 100% feels like scum Fanto. When we flip town take a close look at them.
This doesn't contradict the above, but I do agree that it's a good place to look at.
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As a final note, I do feel like my votes have been trash so far - lacking in both concise reasoning and conviction - so I didn't want to touch that point too much in regards to other players, even though there are a few weird ones.
Also Spec please don't roast me.