[The Saucepan Man]

Well well, LMP, your long post provides much food for thought.

SPM's werebear motivations and strategies set is but one of a number of possible choices for the werebear.

Well pardon me for trying to catch a Bear! My understanding was that it was the expressed preference of many in this Village to track down the Bear as a priority, in order to cut down the number of kills per Night. And, while I recognised the difficulties of spotting Bearish behaviour, I tended to agree that we should not overlook the Werebear in our eagerness to find the Wolves. Also, I seem to recall some suspicion being cast in my direction for being zealous in my hunt for the Wolves but not being quite so energetic with regard to the Bear.

What troubles me most about SPM's werebear strategy is that it applies every bit as well to your typical innocent villager. Note: in the following text I have substituted "an innocent villager" for "a Black Beorning"

I agree with you to an extent, but I cannot accept that the following is a fair analysis of an innocent Villager’s motives:

Not the actions of a Wolf - but the Innocent Villager doesn’t mind who is lynched as long as it’s not him and his name is kept off people’s list of suspects.

Of course innocent Villagers mind who is lynched. Innocent Villagers should be very careful about bandying names around, in case the wrong people (other innocents and Gifteds) get it in the neck. Of course, the Village is bound to lynch innocents and probably even Gifteds in its search for the lycanthropes. It’s unavoidable and, unfortunately, it happened to us yester-Day. But innocents should and do care who gets lynched. Not so with the Bear. He or she is free to accuse, and vote for, whomsoever he chooses as long as it does not attract too much suspicion.

I should point out that I did not vote for CaptainofDespair purely for his pattern of behaviour, but also for his reaction to my suggestion that he might be the Bear. With the benefit of hindsight, it was understandable. But at the time, it made him look mighty suspicious to me. And I am sure that I was not alone in that.

I am NOT saying that SPM is suspicious … I too did notice that SPM fits his description of the werebear quite well. And it's just as interesting that he was the one to get into the mind of a werebear first. Now, that may be good citizenship at its best, but then again it may be something more furry.

You seem to be casting a fair degree of suspicion in my direction for someone who does not think me suspicious …

Upshot: I think it's wrongheaded to try to go after the Black Beorning, especially when there are some obviously suspicious people hanging around.

I agree that we should be careful about who we lynch as a candidate for Werebeardom. I fully acknowledged yester-Day, when deciding how to vote, that there was a greater chance of catching the Wolves than the Bear. But I, and others too I am sure, found the temptation of bagging the Bear just a little bit too tempting. So, yes, we should try not to be too reckless in our search for the Black Beorning. But we should not neglect him. And I am wary of anyone who suggests that we should concentrate exclusively on the Wolves.

If I were the Seer, I should like to dream about Arcticstorm, whose posts have been bland and safe, his votes safer, flying so far under the radar that he seems mighty suspicious to me upon reading through my notes. He's been too invisible, letting the loudmouths point the finger at others, covering over his quietness. Very furry behavior, seems to me.

Funny how you are making a very strong accusation against arcticstorm now, shortly after he identified you as his main Werebear suspect, having (as far as I can see) never accused him previously. You now have the dubious honour of topping of my “Bear-watch” list too.

Boromir is also looking furry to me, because of his safe voting, his tendency to divert attention away from certain things towards where he wants it (post 113 for example).

Please could you explain this? I don’t see anything “diversionary” in what he has said.