In post 13, Frozen Angel wrote:
This is wrong though. You should always be transparent and truthful about stuff and answer the cases on you. "The more you answer the scummier you look" is stupid.
answer with confidence , honesty and decency. If you remove every concern as soon as they rise - you won't ever get in trouble. Being active and present to answer will save you from getting lynched - regardless of your alignment
but putting that aside You shouldn't worry to much about being scum read (and thats not agsint my above suggestion you can do both). Just stay calm. whatever you do there will be some others who will interpret that as something scummy (sooner or later). You just need to be consistent and conscious about the game atmosphere and to not let it get out of your control.
and Thats me - who only got lynched twice in past year (about 50 games?) on MS (once as scum day 1 - when RC used a tricky tell) and once as town in lylo when I was exhusted from my teaching class and instead of defending myself I started criticizing the town!
Quoting this because FA said most of what I wanted to say better than I ever could, especially in the brain dead stupor that is 4 AM. Still going to chip in my 02, in the spirit of being up anyway.
In my experience, people respond to perceived transparency and polite confidence so much better than any amount of BS you can throw out, whether you are Town or Scum. (Bar a very few people. You know who you are.
) You don't need to address every single accusation, and it's not usually possible anyway. Pay attention to the atmosphere of the game, don't let any objections get out of hand, but don't get trapped in them either. Any time you post, you're putting a little bit of yourself into what you write, and people have a sense for that. That is a better defense or stronger condemnation than anything you actually say.
I think this is why scumhunting is such an effective tool. It allows you to show your thoughts in a constructive way, while pushing the game forward in a direction other than yourself. It's not enough to just post them and run either, they have to grow, and it's easier for people to Townread you if they can see them growing organically. Even if I don't have any suspects, I just write up what thoughts I do have, and explain why I'm at where I'm at, because it at least gives people a sense of my TownSelf. It's better to have a foot in the door than nothing at all.
Oh, and as a friendly tip, don't be rude or belligerent. A very few players can get away with this style, but the vast majority are just obnoxious. People stop listening to obnoxious players quickly.
Polite, engaged, and constructive players tend to get further - don't burn your bridges unnecessarily, use manners, and have a reasonably positive mindset whenever you post. It won't save you every time, but so far, I've made it for the few dozen games I've played without being lynched once as Town. To top it off, people tend to like you better anyway, which makes for better games, and better backstabbing.
Learn when to speak, and how to speak, and it will save you so many times.
This definitely doesn't begin to cover everything, and knowing the crowd you're appealing to helps no end. Still, this is what I've found generally works for me, for both alignments.
Here's wishing you luck, mate!