First, I think extending it to include role claims was a mistake. In truth, there was a very healthy debate about whether the first role claim meant anything since it was a generic term. What bugged me most was that if that was an infraction, so was specifically naming a particular word in question (which incidentally was not part of role and faction). Or a specific other person who insisted a different word was in his PM who I feel coaxed me into my role claim.

Part of the problem with this topic to begin with is that one cannot "unsee" things they notice. So, the question becomes how does one explain why you all of a sudden find someone less scummy after you notice these similarities. Just as one can never unsee Goatse or Two Girls One Cup, one cannot unnotice these things.

In a perfect world, a game uses the same initial flavor text for all town and posts it in the OP word for word. It stops most of the PM discussion in it's tracks as even scum has seen the same flavour text.

I'm not sure how much this necessarily played or not in the lack of discussion. Frequently, discussion stagnates until the deadline approaches. It usually picks up toward day end, but this time the warning and day end came on the weekend. Weekends tend to be slower in general (just look how the Insomnia games started fairing and it was far worse at night with one game going over 8 hours). Hopefully that is the main reason for the slow discussion.

Also, cannot rule out gamesmanship. Some people are probably rather happy we have a no-lynch...

This is a good thing to point out. The "rules" at the beginning of the game should stipulate what is acceptable or an infraction.

Who bothers to read rules?!?!

Now I'm not an advocate for MOAR RULEZ, but the moderator should be able to set boundaries to mitigate uncertainty.

I'm a staunch disciple of playing for fun, so MOAR RULEZ=LESS FUNZ.

i have to echo rwarehall here.

You cant unsee something once its out there. Then its your responsibility as a player to put that info out there, if you think its pertinent to the game.

Remember, the main piece of information you get is from your PM at the start of the game. If you're town, its all you get, so naturally you are alert for 'tells' coming from that. If you are Mafia you get different info, but are still on the sniff for 'tells' coming from town players.

It really is up to the game players. I agree direct quoting is out, but indirect referncing and clue giving is all part of the game, IMHO.

As for it slowing the game, no i dont think so. This game is still quite well populated compared to some ive played, believe me. The flavour and setup is good, its just general RL getting in the way for most people.

There hasn't really been a big clash or a big reveal to get anyone going yet - that will happen, just give it time

I'm PM-ing my response. As stated, what has been seen cannot be unseen, and I don't want anything I saw here to influence the game unduly.

Here is something to talk about when this game is over (or at least when the PM vote is over).

Perhaps future games could include something to help induce activity? Like an extra secret objective for each player, "You win if your faction wins AND you get a least one vote each day", or "You win if your faction wins AND you are the third player to role reveal", or "You win if your faction wins AND you kill two players (hammers and NKs count)", or "You win if your faction wins AND you get to L-1 at least once".

I'm not saying any of the examples I've given here are good, I'm just trying to provide examples. Possibly even don't tie the extra objective to the win condition, just give the player something to strive for. Heaven knows, many gamers go for useless bragging rights rewards all the time.

I have not followed the game so what exactly was restricted? To quote single word from PM? To paraphrase? To claim whatsoever?
Anything else?

As I stated in the thread I'm really not a fan of the which word is in my PM game, but I agree with RWarehall that if you see something like that it's hard not to mention it or use it as a basis for your reads. Where I think the problem lies (and I'm not getting at dedo here) is when you start saying things like player X has mentioned a word from his PM, who can see it?
I would much rather someone just came out and said I think player X is town because they used this word. At worst (for the balance of the game) it confirms maybe two players to some people and maybe not even that.

But the beat solution as I can see it is to have a standard vanilla town PM and win condition and to put it in the OP so everyone can see. Probably have a standard scum win condition too and put that in there as well.

As far as I'm concerned the chastisement didn't affect me posting, I posted as much as I could given my available time and having things to say.

Do we really need to be beat with the solution LOL :)

Simply say you noticed something in what they said. You can even say it has to do with how your PM is worded (as long as you don't mention exactly what). Basically, you do everything in your power to indicate what you are talking about, but without actually saying it directly.

As far as talking about role/alignment information, it very much depends on how the information is presented in the PM. It is generally safe do do so if the role/alignment information seems to have a standard plating, such as "RWarehall -- Town Goatherder" or the like. It becomes more of a toss up when the role information is actually a part of the body of the role PM. It becomes a no-no for me if the entire reason for quoting the role information is to point out a quirk in the presentation (as you did) rather than just mentioning the role itself.

As to how it played out.
Robbeasy asked Ixam who had claimed no role if he was claiming Town Vanilla.
Ixam came back claiming Vanilla Townie.
Robbeasy unvoted him.

Day ends in a lynch of another with a Vanilla Townie role, worded exactly as that in the mod post.
Night kill was a Town without a role.

Day 2 discussion, Robbeasy claims he saw something as to why he removed his vote at L-1.
I re-read the post notice the above as I am a Vanilla Townie and mention how I see "something".
JMich grills me, claims he only sees the word "town" and not "townie" in his PM.
I respond stating how this is a thing because my PM reads "Vanilla Townie".
I was then chastised for "quoting the PM".

Somehow, I was the one in the wrong...

@Krypsyn That was not the only reason. I felt I had to role claim since, with JMich claiming the PMs state town, I had to respond or get lynched as I was a major target of Day 1. How do I counter-claim without mentioning that difference specifically?

Obviously, I am aware of the entire setup, so I must be very careful here to try not to influence anything.

All I can say is that there have been a few "bang head on desk" moments in regards to the PeMis measuring contests, both in watching it used and mis-used. I think we've all learned some strategies moving forward.

I certainly believe this game has a lot of untapped/unrevealed potential, and hope all the players will be excited to continue playing to discover all the secrets of the Zone!

Always your safest course of action.

You could quote JMich's comment and reply with something like: "Hmm, how curious". This would draw attention to it, without actually naming you reasons. You would then just have to trust people to figure it out for themselves, which shouldn't be that big of a leap.

In other words, get lynched.