Ok, in order to make this easier for myself, I just went back to my own reads lists and extracted my reads on RachMarie, Malakittens and Miss Destroyer from there, adding some elements from the last couple of pages.
The reason why I single out these three is because, 1. they are my three main scumreads right now, 2. all three of them feature on plenty of people's scumlists, making this a possibly relevant exercise for everyone.
The first conclusion I can already make for myself: despite my reads on all three of them being quite strong, I'm obviously wrong in the case of (at least) one of them, since there's only two scumheads in this game and not three. This, coupled with the fact that all three of them at some stage of the game have been pressuring each other (RachMarie on Miss D, Malakittens on RachMarie, Miss D on Malakittens) in such a way it's difficult to imagine either duo within those three being in a scumteam together, leaves me a bit uneasy, just like how it did when I removed my vote from Miss Destroyer earlier during this stage. I can't shake the uneasy feeling there might be scum outside of these three, rubbing himself in the hands over this mess I'm about to post.
Be that as it may, I'll already let the cat out of the bag when it comes to my vote:
VOTE: RachMarie
and will try to explain why this is my choice.
I have the impression not much further info is coming our way during this stage, so for the sake of clarity and road to consensus (cfr. Wisdom's comment) I want to insist on this vote being final. The global watcher coming out of the closet at this stage is becoming ever more unlikely, and I do not see anything else that could dramatically sway my opinion in another direction.
So now for the cases, or at least an overview thereof (some of it are copy pastes from my earlier reads):
- I don't like RachMarie defensiveness in post
221
- Her reads stay on the surface, she does not express clear thoughts on anyone (a lot of on the fence sitting), let alone reasons for these thoughts. Has anyone seen any scumhunting from her side? She has voted the grand total of 1 time (RVS) during D1.
- In her "defense" against earlier call-outs she has referred more to other games than this one, which I don't feel is a good sign. She's taking her discussion with Wisdom to the emotional plane for no reason at all, so I'm guessing it's an appeal to emtion, and scummy (eg.
320 and
328.
- I didn't like her post
443. I don't like all the fuss she's making about the hammer.
I also don't like the repetition of RachMarie thinking Zionite is the correct lynch. There's no objective reason for this kind of conviction, so I'm assuming this conviction was an act. A scummy act at that. Also check her D1 ISO. I think there may have been one subtle reference to Zionite possibly being scum, yet after the hammer she suddenly acts as if she's convinced that he is. Simply does not add up. She even repeats this conviction in
502.
- RachMarie, who made an enormous fuss about the hammer for minor reasons, a fuss she later dropped with surprising ease considering the importance she seemed to grant to this hammer-business. She then proceeds to go after Miss Destroyer, mainly based on meta and lurking. While I agree that Miss Destroyer's slot is not without its severe question marks, I don't find RachMarie's role in this hunt very "kosher". As it happens I happen to have encountered RachMarie in other games (an ongoing one and a cancelled one), and if anyone should know "activity" can fluctuate regardless of alignment, it's her. She refers to RL-situations quite often herself to explain a certain lack of activity.
- Her (apparently lone) visit to fuzzybutternut.
- The way this visit to fuzzybutternut was admitted to, and the circumstances in which it happened. I think my theory on that is clear by now.
- The only thing that throws me off a bit, I have to admit, is her supposed "twilight"-post (post
646) where she supposedly believed to have been hammered. I think it's a very silly thing to do as scum, but then again, scum could keep up the lying even after having been hammered just to mess with us, or she never thought she got lynched in the first place. I believe it to be the latter, as she asked for clarifications on the vote situation in
639 and I gave her this clarification in
640. If she read that she'd have no reason to think she was lynched after my vote at all.
All of this together, but especially the last points, make me the most confident in a lynch on RachMarie.
Of course there are still things to be said about the other two, but all in all I don't find those as compelling as the points above. They are however to be remembered for future reference I think.
- I didn't have a read on her by page 15, making her a non-presence during the first half of this game. Considering Mrs MArangal and Human Destroyer are both active players, it is worrysome to say the least that their hydra, for a long time,e xcelled in lurking.
- Despite of what Egg said, I don't see any real scumhunting from Miss Destroyer. The example that was shown (the associative tell-epiphany) cana rguably be called scumhunting. I'd call it oil on an already burning fire. If there's any scumhunting at all, it's usually limited to a "one reason - one vote"-pattern, which is rather lazy I'd say. One reason is rarely enough to vote someone (unless it's something really compelling like a scumslip or a confcop-check), and definitely not the kind of reasons Miss Destroyer put forward with some of her votes (Zionite and her last vote on Wisdom in particular).
- Page 23, claiming, soft-claiming PR, claiming VT...
- The main thing that irks me is that the scumhunting limited, and the little that does happen is all through supposed associative tells, first Zionite-Malakittens, then RachMarie-Malakittens. I don't think associative tells provide a good basis for a scumhunt, I think it's quite easy to see an association between any two people one way or another if you just try hard enough. There's not much being said about "inherent" scumminess of people.
- Also too much is blamed on the both of them not agreeing with each other. Inconsistent reads, strange word choices, hell, even the latest bout of inactivity was blamed on Mara by HD for her not warning him. It feels very much like a play to me. I assume HD has independent access to the Miss Destroyer account, why would he need Mara to inform him of this new daystart?
- I don't like Mala"s post
122 at all. She admits to the argument not being strong, yet she finds it enough to keep Zionite at L-1. Granted, maybe it's true that at that stage of the game you don't have any better arguments than that, but then why keep the L-1 situation intact at that stage of the game then?
I know this dates from a long time ago, but I always thought that keeping someone at an L-1 with reasons you don't find very convincing yourself is very telling when it comes to the way you approach this game. The impression of attitude that follows from this 122 is that she doesn't care much about who gets lynched and for which reasons. I know it's only one post, but I found it so striking I'm inclined to calling it a scumslip.
- I don't like her
395 either. I don't like the way Malakittens is trying to sound holier than the pope with this PR-fishing-business, and not only because there was no PR-fishing going on. Someone just mentioned "PR3, this does not make it the same as fishing. Making a fuss over nothing like that doesn't seem pro-town to me, but more like an act to sound like a good boy telling everyone to be good but stealing candy himself later that day.
- I don't like the way she responded to Egg's case against her. She never really adressed what he said, but just attacked formalities and nitpicked on some circumstancial remarks. Just the way a lawyer would do it when he knows his client is guilty.
Egg actually summarized it pretty well in this quote:
Quote from Egg
Now look at Mala. Sure, she's posting. She's active. But she's doing what is popular and won't stick out. Even from the very beginning of the game. She "likes" my slot at the very beginning. At that point, so does everyone else. And her language doesn't suggest a firm stance that will stick. She votes zionite early on and gives reasons, but the vote is because he's willing to unvote for a "compromise". Go back and look at zi's post. It's not that serious. Then she goes after the first thing to stick out. Bo's L-1 vote. Come on, he obviously just wanted reactions. Mala is smart enough to know this. She's also smart enough to know that it could gain traction if she shows issue with it. Same idea as the Bo thing when she points out that fuzzy seems "different". More active and giving opinions. Yes, he's gaining experience. That's why he's different. Should be easy to pick up when you've played a newbie game or two and can spot a newbie from a player who is transitioning out of newbiness. Then there's the thing where she votes miss destroyer for something dumb and then when it's pointed out that it's dumb, "oops, I misread". She's just muddying the waters wherever she can on anyone that might be a lynch target. This isn't genuine scumhunting. And this is a player who knows how to scumhunt so I don't buy this play at all.
- She's very much on the fence about RachMarie, which, again given recent developments, makes her my second scumread now despite her stronger start in day 2. Het post
575 is extremely wiffywoffy, which I know is not a word but still aptly describes how I feel about it. Regardless of this, Mala does have her vote on RachMarie even before this wishiwoshy post, which brings me back to the first point I have against Malakittens.
Oh and on one last note: please come back everyone. I don't know where you all ran off to, but with one day to go for lynch, the last thing we need is flakers. Please feel free to add to these reads or to counter anything said in them in a way that makes it as readable and concise as possible for everyone.
I hope you're joking. Scum say "I'm not scum" all the time.
