Hmmm. Well, if there's a general consensus, then I would have no problem revealing my name and instrument.

However, I learned from claiming too early that you need to be careful about such things. So if most of you agree then I will reveal my name and instrument.

If not, then I will keep it secret.

The main downside that I can think of is that it may well help the mafia work out the 'town pattern' and make it easier for them to false claim (assuming Stoic is town). For an example of what I mean by town pattern, look at game 2. All of the townies were called "Jack" and all of the mafia had names like 'Jacques' and other things similar to Jack. If there's a pattern at all in this game I'd assume it to be much more subtle, but we still don't want to aid the mafia's inevitable falseclaims.

I admit I didn't think of that.

But we have three townies dead and named already, four if we include mr mod. If there is a pattern, that's what will give it away. And we can't do anything about that.

Very much this. At this point, we can more or less safely assume we all have a name, a band and an instrument. There's a lot of potential patterns that could be hidden in that (even though there may be none at all).

If there's one golden rule I've learned in this game, it's to never divulge information unless there's a good reason for it. The game is often described as the uninformed majority versus the informed minority; it is most unwise to feed the informed ones even more data.

If he's telling the truth, the mafia already has his role, which means his 'ability' is gone. Yes if he's telling the truth the extra information might inform further falseclaims, but there's already three dead townies to be going on with: I really don't think it will make it much worse. An accidental mislynch also gives the mafia names and information to work with, but this is never raised as an issue...

If he's not telling the truth, the extra information will potentially help us tell if it's a false claim or not. And since the claim was unprovoked anyway (through error or otherwise), doesn't it make sense to pull it out into the open?

What do other people think?

For the record, my current List of Suspicious People:
Leaning scum: baz, stoic, Rodzaju, Robbeasy, TwilightBard
Neutral: Red, Jefe, Primal, Detlik, GoJays, Quad, xzyem

Alright, quick update, I'll have a votecount up sometime tomorrow afternoon (Pretty busy at the moment).

As per replacements, I have one who volunteered and I'm waiting for gameon to reply, so hopefully both will be joining soon :)

Deadline is extended indefinately due to the upcoming shifts in player base.

OK, I can see that my vote on Xzyem isn't going anywhere.
I was about tp change my vote to NFY.
Between her & Stoic, I see her as more calculating, which generally translates into more scummy.
Then I see myself on her scum list & worry that this might be considered an OMGUS vote.

Then I see possible replacements on the way.
Yay!!
Definitely mean to let someone into the game with a vote already on them.
What the hell!
Unvote Xzyem; Vote NotFrenchYet

Welcome aboard.
Perhaps we can stop this ship from sinking....

So I dug into the infamous NFY/stoic clash to make a summary from my point of view and found out it essentially consists of two distinct arguments. Number one is the whole "obsessing over Damuna" issue (#871-874 and thereabouts), which even NFY now admits does not read in her favour at all: why are you always talking about Damuna - because of XYZ - you're talking about her again!

The other argument is the "case against xzyem", based on that silly little sentence of his way at the beginning of the game. Looking at it blow by blow, the general flow of that goes something like this:

GoJays comes up with the case (#827), stoic says it's interesting, NFY remains silent on it.
Much later, in #871, NFY digs into stoic because of the "obsessing about Damuna" thing. Not much else happens.
I prod NFY in #898, asking her for opinion of the xzyem case.
In #907, stoic enters the ensuing discussion, saying his gut feeling is that xzyem is not scum.
NFY attacks.

And it's this attack which does not feel right at all. Why? Because it's built on soundbites that misrepresent what stoic was actually saying. Here's what it says:

NFY's #908:
In #829 you [= stoic] not only added fuel to GoJays' case, but you called it "compelling". In #882 you're still referring to it as a potential slip. Then suddenly in #885 your gut feeling is that xzyem is town, despite a case that you helped build?

And here are the relevant parts of the posts referred to in there, with more context.

Stoic's #829:
I think you just stumbled onto something there. In light of the revelation that we may be dealing with more than 1 group of mafia, it sounds to me like xyzem's post means something than it did before. Is it possible that he was informed that he was mafia and that there was another group of mafia? And, being new to the game, took that to mean *everyone* was mafia? What say you all? I think GoJays makes a compelling case.

Stoic's #882:
This would fit in a theory developed with what may have been a slip up by xyzem earlier in which he reported that he thought we were "all supposed to be mafia."

Stoic's #885:
"I don't know, it [= the xzyem case] seems like grasping at straws to an extent. Still trying to balance the evidence with my gut which for whatever reason tells me xzyem is town."

The way NFY's painting it, it looks as a pretty typical flipflop, but with context, it becomes a fairly standard "I'm not really sure but this sounds more plausible" change of heart (something NFY herself isn't a stranger to) -- both the "slip" and "gut" thing are served with a nice helping of doubt there. Simply put, #908 is a heavy punch based on exaggerated data.

In #911, stoic gobbles up the bait, and responds with what amounts to a very emotional vote.

And finally in #912, it's NFY who escalates the whole thing, relatively minor up to that point, into something much bigger in an accusatory post that's quite an OMGUS:

NFY's #912:
My currently [sic] theory is you're mafia, and that you posted #829 in an attempt to boost GoJays' case into a mislynch (Primal, Robb and Roz went for it, the latter two with votes.). Then when it started to falter, you backtracked out of it by claiming you have a gut feeling he is in fact town, despite the significant hole in xzyem's defence.

That's what I was referring to earlier: NFY parries and responds with a counterattack that's way more powerful than the previous discussion was. And that is what feels so off here.

What follows is annoying to read, and rather devoid of information; they're just trading the same blows a few more times until the whole thing goes out with a whimper.

So, yeah. If this story has a hero (and it doesn't), NFY ain't it.

Alright, gameon is officially part of the game, replacing Robbeasy.

I will hopefully receive word from Krypsyn soon about him replacing xzyem.

Oops... I forgot about this game, sorry about that, kind of lost interest after nothing was happening. Glad to see we've (sort of) moved on from the stoic/NFY thing. I've never really had the feeling that stoic is scummy. Not too experienced maybe, but not in a mafia way.

Your analysis of NFY is kind of interesting baz, and now she's kind of shifted a little more to the mafia end of the spectrum for me.

Also, welcome gameon. It's funny because you voted for NFY but Robbeasy also voted for her out of the blue in post 1113 with no real reason.

OK, I'm confused, especially since Rob posted a few days ago...

I guess he won't be posting any more!

*Facepalm*

By my counting I'm now at L-3. I urge anyone voting for me to stop and think about why, and if possible present their own reasons or quotes that I can address. Some subtle re-reading discouragement from bazilisek in that last one: that's not like you... >.>;

Responding with a more powerful counterattack: yes, yes I was, I was trying to up the pressure. Increasing the power is what a counterattack should do. I'm also interested that you class my #912 as what escalates the whole thing, when I was responding to an emotional (and I think panicky) WOT from nowhere in #911. Guys: which one of us was escalating things here?

As for the 'compelling' -> 'slip' -> 'gut' chain... I read it again, and after #829 there's a lot of discussion of nightkills, as well as bits and pieces on gojays' case. The sentence you quoted from #882 comes smack in the middle of discussion of multiple mafias, and stoic uses xzyem's "what may have been a slip up" as evidence in support of one theory (2x2 mafia with no contact). (You're calling "may have been" in #882 a "nice helping of doubt"...?) Then in #885 pressuring the "slip up" is now "grasping at straws". To me, the above reads like he's simply reacting to the mood of the thread. However, I did notice reading this time that he didn't vote xzyem with everyone else.

Also, guys, I asked what everyone else thought of the idea of Stoic formalising his claim (apart from baz and Primal) and there was an entire 24 hours of silence. Granted, it was Sunday and I'm sure you had things to do, but now there are folks around and active, what do you think? Personally I'd like a name at least.

(Welcome gameon, even though you voted me! :3 )

EBWOP: Aaaand I just remembered gameon replaces Robbeasy, putting me actually at L-4.