You see, I know what Mafia is, in theory. But I didn't expect that. I click a link in somebody's sig, yes? And then I read and I'm like, "Why is Vector being so mean to this person?" And then I'm like, "Why is everybody being so mean to everybody?" And then I'm like, "Is this still Bay 12?" I saw the nicest people on this forum flip out on each other like a slopbucket full of bromine. It was glorious, and I wasted spent four hours reading old threads.
I believe that the Mafia subforum is where Bay 12 goes to lose its collective shit. I am oddly tempted to join, but I don't think I would be able to actively participate, since I only have internet access for, like, three hours a day.
Thinking people are mean to each other on the mafia forum is like thinking that those birds who floof up their feathers are just
huge, or that boxers must
really hate each other to be so cruel, or that someone who snipes you in an FPS is a big jerk.
Like throwing a kick in a martial arts tournament, the "mean" things that are said don't have any actual ill will behind them - they are tactics to throw the other person off their game and try to suss out a judgeable response, and thus win the match, nothing more. There's no actual "meanness" intended in the comments there. Unless they are directed at Dariush, but that's a special case.
The stuff that's usually said there is almost always the exact
opposite of "losing ones shit", in my experience.
If you want to see the people there without the posturing and positioning and attempts at psychological manipulation, you can always read the discussion threads or the bits that happen after the game ends instead.