Birdy: I've realized something here. You said in my place you would have stayed your voting hand on Dem? Okay, but in my place i'm being accused over and over about not attacking people. This seemed a good place too come back to now that Dem has returned. And i'll also address the "sizing up" thing. Is this really a scummy thing to do? As well as digging deeper? This makes you uncomfortable which means you feel pressured by me. How is that scummy? Of course sizing you up and possibly digging deeper is going to be what i'm thinking about, how else am i going to get a read on you? This actually took me a bit of time to see (i also stopped looking at it last night after thinking Ford hadn't voted Dem yet) but the way you worded it seemed to very subtlely be trying to get me away from you. Unvote, Vote Birdy. Do you deny what i've accused you of?
(Quick reference: trying to turn my attention away from you.)
(And thinking me pressuring you was scummy.)
I'll address this first.
I simply don't feel that Dem is a truly valid target. Him not being around has been an issue, but that doesn't automatically mean he's scumtell. With all the pressure on him already, I would have let others keep on him and focus on other matters. This is my own reasoning on the subject.
To the second point, people have blamed you about not being aggressive enough. This is a relative opinion however. I personally haven't been bothered in the slightest on whether you are aggressive enough or not. Defensive... Aggressive... Both are adjectives that are a bit unreliable. You can have a Defensive Cop attempting to avoid being knocked out of the game early, and you can have an Aggressive scum trying to fit in with the town. At the end of the day you have to trust your gut.
I used the term, "sizing up" to illustrate the idea that you are not merely asking questions to determine scummicity, but rather character analysis. You seemed to want to know who I am, as opposed to where I am standing. This struck me as a bit odd, and still does strike me as odd.
Also, as I stated earlier, questions are good. Dig deep into me if you need to. Just remember that you reveal pieces of yourself along the way. The questions asked can be just as telling as the answers given. Quite simply, I don't trust your line of questioning, so I felt the need to address it strongly.
As you stated, questions are very,
very important, and you were right in asking them. In fact, the only reason I brought you up at all in my answers is because you asked me to. You wanted to know who I suspected was scum, and I gave you a straight answer. I don't trust you. At all.
Now... If you think I am trying to get away from you, that's a bit laughable. I am not going anywhere. Ask anything of me, and I will not tell an outright lie.
I have no reason to. I deny the first accusal.
As to the second accusual, I render a deny once more.
Do you
really think that I am attacking on grounds of perceived pressure? Come on now, you can do better than that. The questions you asked were light at best, but I thought there is something deeper and continue to think so, especially since your strategy of defense seems to be changing rapidly. At first you ignored me, and asked for public approval. Vector chided you on this, so you took her advice and demanded rejustification instead. You turning around and voting for me now only reaffirms my distrust.
Ranger... You need to produce something a bit more solid if you want to shake me... I am going to ask you to prove why my denies are false, and why you thought I am attempting to deceive you. Take all the time you need, since it is the weekend. Talk to others, ask for advice if you need to, or generally post on things that aren't related to this question if you need time to think about it. I am a very patient man.
Give me a solid reason why I should trust you.
I suppose I will ask a question in return... Lenglon, be a bit more detailed on what you think of me. Don't be shy about it.
Birdy, what information do you think you'll get out of this question?
I was honestly a bit suprised that he said there wasn't anything to be taken from my introduction. His tone seemed to be a bit dismissive, which bothered me. However... He's ultimately right. Being new to this forum, I am a wild card. One post isn't really enough to build a solid opinion on me unless I say something absolutely fantastic that warrants further scrutiny.
One post isn't enough to build an opinion, so you ask her about her opinion of you as an RVS question. Now that's just talented.
That... and questions like these can be used to either look for a slip-up or a sign to confirm your opinion on who is who. Or... change opinions.
Noncommital and vague; you could say any question serves that purpose. What, specifically, were you going to do with any information you got from the range of expected answers?
For instance, I am now going to go out on a limb and say that Lenglon is a townie. He answered the question much too frankly to be a piece of scum. But time will tell if this opinion will change.
Buddying, softballing, and... noncommital. If you say someone is a townie, then you should mean it. It's fine to say "I think she's a townie, because X Y and Z," but "She is town. I may change my opinion later" is just absurd.
Seriously? "This is what I think of birdy from his single post" is enough to make you think that she's town? What would it take to make you think that someone is scum?
Also... didn't you play in Not-So-Beginner's Mafia 3 a few years back? I think I replaced in for you. You were playing scum.
It is one of my many talents, thank you!
If someone is going to offer an opinion on me, I would prefer it be a strong one. Perhaps its a sense of parnoia, but I like seeing where people stand. It gives me a chance to mount a proper fight. However, the fight never came with Lenglon. She quite clearly did not have an opinion of me. Now, I would suspect that a member of team scum would have offered something one way or another in an attempt to either assuage my curiousity or assault me for it.
Lenglon suprised me by offering a third answer that I wasn't quite expecting. That was sticking to her guns on the idea that she really didn't have any opinion, and that my post was mostly flavorless. Her answer struck me as an honest one, and I have already stated that I appreciate covering these kinds of matters in the light of day. Therefore, I'm just not getting scum vibes from Lenglon. Her uncertainty shows in her post, and that's not something you fake. Scum would have no reason to be uncertain, as they already know who I am.
If you wish to me to elaborate more on this, just ask, but I need to continue on.
Let me first say that you are right. If I am going to say something, I may as well make it on a strong foot. I didn't supply enough reasoning for my opinion of Lenglon.
However, I obviously do have an opinion on who is scum. My scum evaluations lie on the idea whether a character is acting suspiciously or abnormally. RangerCado is on the receiving end of that. You are the receiving end of another such evaluation. For instance, you do not threaten me. You've stated several times that you wanted others to take initiative in the scum hunt due to being an IC. However, no one was attacking me as of yet... Just vague opinions.
Believe it or not, I appreciate the gesture of your questioning, as I feel your digging is also a way to discover my weaknesses, so I can build upon them and learn to guard against them. For instance, you've caught onto my tendancy to use a passive voice. I'm not always good at using a solid voice; one that speaks with authority. In fact, I've had to adopt one to make myself seem a bit stronger than I really am. I knew this going in, but the focus of my arguement was on RangerCado, the one place where I absolutely cannot show weakness. This caused me not be as strong when justifying my claim on Lenglon. It was very, very wishy-washy to say the least.
So, probe further. I want to know where I am weak.
As to your last question Vector, I am afraid you have the wrong person. I only joined this forum about a less than a year ago! However, I must ask... Is the fact that I remind of you of him a good thing or a bad thing?