Conventional wisdom says that self-meta is useless because you can manipulate your meta when you're aware of it. This conventional wisdom is usually sound, but I believe there is one instance in which self-meta is very useful and informative. When I've used self-meta this way in the past, I've been met with mixed reactions.
The case in which I believe self-meta is useful is to point out your own null tells. Basically, if you know you do some action "X" as both town and scum, then it should be appropriate for you to point this out.
Example:
Should Player B be believed? I'd say yes, provided they can give proof that they've done action X as town. This follows basic rules of logic, in my opinion.
Player A is claiming the implication that "X --> Player B is scum".
Player B finds an example of "X and Player B is town".
Then the implication does not hold, because "X and Player B is town" is logically equivalent to the negation of "X --> Player B is scum".
Why should this be considered different than normal self-meta? Because it is not subject to manipulation. Saying that you've done X as town and therefore you're town in this game is clearly open to manipulation. On the other hand, it's simply stating a fact to provide proof that you've done X as town. It's verifiable by other players in the game. It doesn't prove you're town, but it does disprove that you're scum
because of X
, because you've shown a game (or, better, a set of games) where applying the tell that "X --> Player B is scum" would yield an incorrect result.I would also claim that it's
optimal
to point out when someone is using one of your null tells to paint you as scum. You know what you've done in past games best. You can't trust others to prove you've done X as town if they haven't read the game where it happened. You're in a unique situation to apply self-meta, so long as you do so carefully and do not attempt to use it to show you're town.I'm interested in thoughts on this. From a logical perspective, I think this is airtight, but most people see self-meta and immediately back away in fear. I think this is one more example of conventional scum-hunting tactics and tells becoming out of date and leading people awry. Applying self-meta to disprove a scum tell should absolutely be a tool in a townie's toolbox, as well as a goon's. It's all in how you apply the self-meta.
Just to be very clear, I agree that self-meta to prove you're town is awful and subject to manipulation. I'm only talking about self-meta to prove something is a null tell for you.