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Some brief thoughts on forum mafia. Might be worth reading if you're wondering how anybody forms reads in this format. Most of this is something I sent to a newer player in a previous game at the start. Parts have been briefly edited today.
Forum mafia is a bit different to how we play irl. The biggest differences being the roles being revealed on death, the time you have during each day, the voting system (far less limited), and the depth of information. Remember to check general rules. Stuff like quoting the mod, talking to people outside the thread except in a QT etc is problematic.
Town advice/forming reads:
-Process of Eliminating/POEing is one of the best ways to find scum. Finding town, especially day one, is just as important as finding mafia. This helps reduce your ‘scumpool’, and you can work more effectively with likely town. Find. Town.
-Motivation- why are people saying what they’re saying. Are they consistent, or are they changing track/bringing up new reads opportunistically?
-Looking at votecounts and the evolution of votes (wagons) on people is really really useful, especially as the game progresses. Are wagons stalling at odd point, are they building building naturally, are there counterwagons that pick up in response to other wagons, are people only on the wagon for the wrong reasons etc. All questions to ask. This usually works better in real time when you can get a sense of the game’s momentum.
-Interactions between people are a good way to read them. Does an interaction between people look more like scum interacting with scum (scum theatre), town interacting with town, or town interacting with scum? Some scum just avoid interacting with their partners at all.
-Tone- do people’s posts read as sincere or manufactured. Is their tone consistent.
-Can you follow people’s reads and thought processes. Are their reads evolving naturally? Mafia need to fake this while town don’t.
-Bad posting doesn’t necessarily mean scum posting.
-Remember most people in the game are actually town. Often worth remembering that, especially early game. It's usually more productive to approach people/interact with them without direct hostility unless you're sure it's warranted. Town divisions can hurt town. Good cooperative trust building helps townblocs arise.
-Interacting with people is a good way to read them. Asking questions, commenting on reads.
-Being open is generally good. Sincerity, seeming legitimate in your reads. Towntelling. Effort is also seen as townie- whether or not it actually is.
-Don’t be afraid to re-evaluate your stances/reread stuff.
-A day one lethal (voting someone out) is a good idea unless you think the host is bad at balancing the game. If you don’t lethal then the only information you get is that the mafia have a nightkill. If you lethal, or at least try to, you get all sort of interactions, votecounts, and stances to analyse and actually make legitimate reads off of. Good game balance will mean town doesn’t just win through night actions- mafia will get as much or more than town each night.
-Games usually start with RVS (Random vote stage). People vote people. They probably don't have any good reasons. Mafia might have reasons. It's got obvious flaws, but it's generally agreed to be a required evil. You want to form reads day one.
-Mafia usually have a reason for killing people. I had a mafia game fairly recently where we decided to just kill whoever had the biggest scumread on my partner. Nobody bothered to look back at the dead town’s valid suspicions. Shockingly, there weren't many people who hard scumread my partner left at the end of the game. People often ignore this useful source of information.
-Mafia should try to act like town. Their main difference is that they're informed. They have different incentives/motivations and act on these.
-Be careful with bussing (leathaling partners).
-Day one is hard if people reread. This isn't the best forum for that, but you might get some keen people. If you're inconsistent to get a lethal then people could notice.
-Try and forget you're scum if possible. Sincere/legit/town tells are a good way to get townread because they're good tells. Harder for them to apply to you if you're not sincere.
-Mafia need to be townread. Being inactive or not very active but active enough to avoid a lethal for inactivity (actively lurking) will probably let you survive the first few days as mafia. However, that’s also a good way to lose late game. Town will have townreads and night action results. They find you by process of elimination. You need people to townread at least some of you. If everyone’s reading you as neutral then you’ll probably be lethaled late game.
Some links that might help introduce some stuff
wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Interactive_Tells
wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Mastin%27s_Guide_to_Scumhunting
wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Tarhalindur_Standard_Tells
forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=74618
wiki.mafiascum.net/index.php?title=Mastina/Notable_Articles
Acronyms/terms (you don't need to know these, but this should be useful if people say stuff you don't understand)
POE - Process of elimination
WIFOM - Wine in front of me. The basic idea is ideas on the line of 'mafia would never do X' is a reason why mafia might do x to get townread.
Townblock - A group of people who mutually townread one another.
Lethal - Voting someone out during the day. Other people use different terms like eject.
Open setup - you know what's in the game. Open setup - you don't.
Alignment Indicative - Something that someone thinks helps you determine whether someone is mafia. For example, speculating about the game design (setup speculation) may be considered NAI (not alignment indicative)
L1 - One off being voted out.
Misrep - Misrepresentation.
OMGUS - 'oh my god you suck' when someone attacks someone who attacked them because the were attacked.
Scum - another word for mafia.
SR/TR - scumread or townread.
Mod - the person running the game
Towncred - town credibility/town points
Alt - someone playing under a different name
RVS - random vote stage, trying to shift the game into a higher information stage at the start by voting people and seeing what happens
PR - Power role. Cop, doctor, vigilante etc
Scumtell - something suspicious from a player. Can be something sus they did, or something about how they play. Towntells also exist.
Meta - Reads based on how people have played in the past
IIoA - Information instead of analysis (an old school scumtell)
