1 [m] Bronx-Man
Self-vote, probably joking. Votes Flame_AC, probably still just joking but at least leaves a vote relatively early in the day for a papertrail; not non-commital. First person to hit QuantumBro - difficult to read this. Could be a very early bus, but then, he rode it all the way to the end on a relatively powerful scum role. Inclined to read this as townie. Displays relatively good observation.
Understandably occupied with the exact mechanics of the callout, but causes him to be derailed from making actual read contributions for a while. Again, could be non-comittal scum... but then floats suspicion on Sawneeks, which is a big play for scum - Sawneeks is probably one of the most town-read players and pretty competent, so tough to attack. Most scum wouldn't bother - night kill material instead. But backs down so quickly on this it's not really concrete.
Calls LoC as 'dumb townie'. I don't want to be mean to LoC, but I also misread him as, uh, misfiring town. Obviously agreeing with someone's reads doesn't clear them, but it doesn't feel like Bronx is having to force his reads. And this is consistent pattern - Bronx calls Pop as making a bizarre play, a very natural read. Both somewhat obvious, but brownie points still.
Bit of WIFOM in the defense against Pop in #379 (why would I do X if I was scum?), but to be fair WIFOM isn't always illegitimate and the remarks are pretty much on the money. It would be a bold, bold gambit for scum to bus so hard so early. Noticeably no voting or commitment for D2 end.
There's a bit of bitching about the game format. I tend not to like comments like this - they're an easy way to win sympathy because people love complaining about game formats (everyone loves a moan), but at the same time it doesn't actually reveal anything concrete. There's also a general period of derailment around here - sidelined into Overwatch fluff and so on.
The defense for D2 end is, I think, weak - "didn't want to look like scum trying to turbo Kalor". I hate logic like this. There's way more town than there are scum. If a few townies don't seem town and get lynched, well, no great loss at the end of the day. But what differentiates town and scum is that scum have to force acting like town. Town just act like town naturally by virtue of being town. The second you start second-guessing how you appear to others as town, is the second you're playing badly and muddying the waters for everyone else. This isn't an intuitive lesson, though, and it dreails a lot of newer players, so benefit of the doubt here.
The contributions really tail off from here. Normally I'd worry about this as scum who, happy they've established their brand as an active player and definitely not hiding at all, slowly and subtley sink into the background. But... well, everyone active has done this in the game, I think because the slow pace is more than a little demoralizing. If I suspect anyone for this, then like half of town would have to be scum.
Verdict? I think new/inexperienced town, and reasonably confident in that. I'd like to see more positive contribution and a little more focus/slightly sharper edge to the comments. Get into arguments, push people, expose nerves. But I don't think the relatively passive play is indicative of scum here.
2 [m] Burbeting - GMT+2
Starts with a loose post - "I'd prod people if they were inactive, but they aren't, so I won't". Continues with see-sawing on Pop-O-Matic, and doesn't even conclude, finishes with "But would pop really try to emulate Blarg?". I don't know, Burb, if you have thoughts why not say them? #151 is telling people not to no lynch, which, fine is a true contribution... but it also a very obvious one, and we've now got through a number of posts with no real meat. #172 is more dodging and dancing - trying to establish a presence as a voice to be listened to by using then explaining OMGUS, throwing shade at kryptik... but without committing, just floating trailers in the water to see if anyone bites.
We don't get our first real stance until #192. It starts off by just criticizing people who put out super early leads. I mean, I agree - I also said this myself. But it continues Burbs trend of dropping generic advice (like his brief "hey guys No Lynching is bad" post) that doesn't contribute to the specifics of the game. And I think Burb knows this is beginning to stand out, because again, we get a (very) tentative float of QuantumBro, LoC, and Kryptik -- all of whom have been called out by others at this point.
Another empty advice post in #195 - "hey guys, post more". Also, there's a lot of double-posting here. Its a good way to boost post-count and appear more active than you really are. We have #192, #193, then #195, #196 - so that's 4 postsworth out of what could probably have been one! Good scumtrick that, one experienced scum pick up quite quickly, and Burb is experienced.
We get all the way to #214 before Burb actually places a vote/makes any post that has any real value to town as a whole. It's a fair vote, but also, at that point, a very safe one - Evilisk was indeed very quiet, but also very new, and unlikely to be able to defend well. And Burb splits posts again - the justification for Evilisk is in #215, immediately after the prior post.
And in #281, we get Burb late into the QuantumBro wagon - after Quantum has already taken the lead and with 27 minutes until day end - i.e., at a game-pace this slow,. very unlikely that lead would be altered either way (the day was extended by half an hour, but Burb didn't know that at the time). That's a vote screaming bus if I ever saw one - as scum, Burb would know QB was going to flip and it was unlikely to change as far as votes go, so great point to hit the wagon. And in #289, we get "At any case the pile-up is going to give us some interesting information going forward to D2."; or a lead-in to be able to say the next day "Well, I voted QB, we can conclude I wasn't scum from that D2 pile-up!".
#314 is back to the old fluff production - explaining Combine's role PM which frankly anyone ought to be able to do if they can read, and the ole generic "yay! scum are dead! i'm celebrating this, look how town I am!". #316, more obvious commentary. #323 more set-up commentary, and not useful at that. Burb's next post tries to look contentful - discusses why he thinks Haly and LoC are town - but it is recycled material; his defence of LoC is taken from e.g. Sawneeks' #369.
Burb's net attack is on Bronx. This is confusing, because... I mean, Bronx just reads town, I'm going to be blunt. He might be scum, but to me, he certainly isn't showing the tells for it, and I think Burb's argument just doesn't flow. But I think scumm will be very keen to try and lynch Bronx - as Haly and I have argued for, Bronx's call-out was probably a public-cop, which means he is (probably) confirmed town (and we'd find out as such if the public cop flips). Mafia will know Bronx is town if he is, and they'll probably suspect the call-out for what it is, and so they know they need to get rid of Bronx or they'll have a confirmed town floating around late-game, which is dangerous.
#409 fits the pattern which I'm hoping we're all beginning to notice by now - Burb creates posts that are, at face value, designed to look active/contributory, but under the surface, are simply not. So Burb decides to go through QB's votes in order - something I've already done. Starts with me, doesn't reall have a conclusion (just: "seems solid"). Clears Saw using essentially the same analysis as my post, while also using an off remark Saw made to try and buttress Burb's own position. Dodges around on Pop - the vote is "not very alignment indicative", and to the extent Burb reaches a position, it is "probably town", echoing my analysis. Has a whole paragraph analyzing his own vote - who does that? We don't need to hear your read on why you are town, that's... just scummy. He then goes to Kalor. This is not suspiscious in and of itself - I'd already gone with kalor - but it is suspiscious *because* I had already gone with Kalor. It is recycled material, and joining a wagon early on to help really get it rolling.
#426 is avoiding Sawneek's question. #463 is more "finding ways of posting without actually posting".
I hadn't really examined Burb as much as I should, but the more I look, the more I become convinced there's a scum here. I can't remember the GAF character limit, but this is pretty long now, so:
VOTE: Burbeting
and I'll continue with CCS shortly.