whiteflame

Alright, so another antagonist and a claimed PR that brings the count to 8 men - 4 women. At least everyone has posted now, and we have a claimed PR, a claimed TP, and a claimed character on the table.

I'm tired, just saw this, so I'm going to end off here and read into these characters more tomorrow.

Well, at least you're active now.

This claim looks... troubling. From what I've read on the character, Helen Pierce is an antagonist, so if the split is that basic (protagonists and supporters vs. antagonists), then this looks like trouble. That being said, I don't think that Max would claim this if he knew that that was the theme split, and I think it would be relatively obvious to scum if it was.

This makes the male-female split is 7-4, with only ComputerNerd being unclear, so it is possible that it's men vs. women with the female TP.  If that is the case, again, I have a hard time believing that scum would put themselves in a position where they are all the female standouts from the rest of us.

So I'm not quite sure what to make of this claim yet. Have some ideas on the potential role. I'll read more into the character.

I don't think it makes sense to pursue either Airmax or ComputerNerd at this point (Unvote). Neither is being responsive, and even if Pie is right that Max is lurking (he probably is), that doesn't help us at this stage unless we're willing to lynch him. Clearly just putting pressure on these two has done nothing, and while that might change, I'm not willing to keep pushing it if it's just going to mire us in the same spot.

GP is similar in that regard. He has already full claimed, so voting for him only makes sense if we're pursuing that lynch. As many others have said, he's a good lynch if we have no one to rally a vote against, so voting for him at this stage is pointless.

I've already said who is on my potential scum list, and two already have votes on them. Right now, I'm willing to pursue a claim from either Sui or Earth, it really doesn't matter to me given that my suspicions against Sui are, essentially, what I would expect him to do as a townie who is knowledgeable about the theme, though my limited experience playing with him makes that somewhat suspect, and my suspicions of Earth are built on intuition. Still, at least for the moment, I'm putting my vote down on Earth to try and get some info, especially as his more recent posts look pretty fluffy, particularly where he says that he's "thinking as hard as" he can about Mharman's mindset behind his opening posts. Pretty weak, and hasn't posted any reads yet. Not that Sui's been more cooperative, but it sounds like Earth was trying to make it look like he was engaged and throw the smallest bit of shade he could.

Sorry, been busy today.

Max and ComputerNerd are both posting too minimally to read, so they're both automatically null. Because of their general lack of posting, I'm more focused on these two than anyone else.

GP is claimed TP and I buy it. He's an autolynch at some point, but the only reason I'd support that lynch this DP is if there are no decent scum reads.

My townreads are Badger and Mharman. The ways in which they're both tackling this just seems very towny, even if I disagree with Badger's read on me.

Largely null read Supa, Pie, and DD. They're all playing largely by the same metas I've seen before, but I've been baffled by Pie and Supa before, and I'm wary of DD, even if I have little basis for it in this game.

Right now, Sui would be highest on my list of potential scum reads. Considering his apparent knowledge of the topic, he's contributed far less than I expected. Don't really see him doing much analysis of potential splits beyond the incredibly basic. I know Luna said that this is a non-complex theme split, but especially for someone who knows this show, it seems a bit strange to me that he hasn't explored alternative possibilities beyond what others have suggested.

It's been a while since we've had Mikal in a game, and his generally toned down behavior has me a little off kilter, even if I feel that his contributions are townie.

My read on Earth is more of a gut check. Can't say that anything specific stands out, but something about his behavior is rubbing me the wrong way.

I won't enter the tournament, but I'll commit to voting on as many of these debates as possible.

For anyone who is in the tournament, if you want a vote from me, the best way to get it is to PM me (I tend to be pretty good at keeping track of those). Tagging me in the comments works as well, but I'm not always the best at tracking those.

And yeah, Mikal's right about the lack of activity from ComputerNerd. Hence, VTL ComputerNerd. Hopefully you can pick it up this game, dude.

Thanks for clarifying. I'll be interested to see how he responds.

Alright, I like DD's idea.

I'm male.

Since you posted this only 5 minutes after Earth posted, I'm guessing that you were VTLing for activity. He's ahead of you.

However, in that same vein (and based on the relatively lackluster engagement in the last game), I'm going to follow your lead and try to encourage more posting.

Be nice to see you a little more engaged this time around.

Hey guys. I know nothing of Ozark, but I’m looking forward to figuring out the theme. 

Not if the study is well-designed. Every study is built on a hypothesis, but the vast majority of the time, the goal isn't to prove the hypothesis true, it's to test the hypothesis. The outcome (whether the hypothesis is true or false) isn't predetermined, and labs that enter a study trying to prove a hypothesis true will fail far more often than they succeed.

I'll join.

Yeah, GG guys. Pie really nailed us early.

Been a long day and I'm about to conk out, but given that Pie was doing a bit of homework looking into game characters, I figured I'd show mine as well.

The effect does suggest that this comes from a video game, most likely an RPG of some kind. When I heard about that Frozen Solid effect, I noticed the same association with Warcraft that Pie did (it's actually not just Jaina, though, and it's somewhat unclear precisely what effect it has as freezing effects are often used by mages as a way to protect themselves against attack). However, it's not just the Warcraft universe.

There's a "Frozen Solid" in Final Fantasy as well, and we have a character from that franchise (Aeris) in the game. https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Freeze_(status)  It isn't associated with a specific character, but I wouldn't be surprised if some elements of our roles were pulled from the games. There's also a similar freeze condition in Pokémon, which has no waifus represented so far despite featuring some of the most famous ones in anime and video games. While Mikal definitely would have to leave off some major fandoms, I'm surprised that that one is apparently absent.

Anyway, that's all I can stay awake to write tonight. After Pie's result, I knew I would be on the chopping block and it looks like that hasn't changed substantially. Still, hope that my insights can help.

Yeah, Warren's death is peculiar. I can't say that it's obvious why he died, but Wylted's ability could explain why. It's possible that there's a Vig who hasn't spoken up yet, and that scum targeted someone who was protected or just didn't use their NK for some reason. Max suggested the possibility of two separate scum teams, which would also make sense of it, though my experience with that kind of setup is one where there is a Lone Wolf and a separate pair of scum who have the NK. If that was true, I would have expected to see Warren's flip include the Lone Wolf somewhere, but it doesn't. So I don't have a solid explanation for you, since all of these are somewhat contrived, but they would all make some sense of what happened.

She does have pointed ears, though from my experience with the game (I played a lot of WoW back in the day), I always associated that with her just retaining some of the draconic traits (hence the horns as well). And yeah, she's generally a very serious character, though I wouldn't be too surprised if a lot of us got fan art.

Been wracking my brain on this one. Sarah Kerrigan turned to the dark side, worked with the heroes for a bit, and then went back to being the Zerg queen badass that she was. Lucy is... kind of a mixed bag when it comes to affiliation. She's not a villain per-say, but considering how much damage she has done at various times over the course of Elfen Lied, I'd say she's not exactly heroic. If it wasn't for your claim of Yuno Gasai, I would have said that the split was between heroic figures (even Rias Gremory is kind of in that camp if you squint, but Lucy, Sakura and Caitlyn are definitely in that camp) and non-heroic characters, but Yuno is a yandere with some serious issues. If anything, I'd say that she has more in common with Lucy than anyone else who has claimed so far.

That being said, I don't think that's the split anymore. It seems too basic and I don't think Mikal is doing that. It apparently has nothing to do with being human or not, nothing obvious to do with their ages, and the only other splits I can figure are rather arbitrary choices that I don't like. I'm still thinking this one through, though with three characters unclaimed, it will be difficult to figure out.

A framer is always an outside possibility, as is a flavored cop, though I think we'd be starting to get into even more complicated territory if we expand to all possible options for how this shook out the way it did. Generally, I'm wary of explanations that involve the stars aligning in a very particular way (with multiple parties acting on the same person, resulting in convoluted information), though I've been burned before like in our live game a few weeks ago when we found out that Danielle had been Tracked to the target of the NK.

Apologies for my absence. It's been a busy evening.

Not much to say on the CC. It's not called "doctor" on mine, but it has the same function, listed as "Breath of Life." Not sure what it's called for Earth or if it is exactly the same, but if so, I can't explain it.

As for what Wylted said he did during the last NP, I've always been wary of claims of redirection or those those that similarly mess with night actions by transferring them onto someone else. They're difficult to validate. It might explain some of what happened during the NP, but whether it "vindicates" me, as you say, is up to everyone. Especially given that this is on the table, it's pretty clear that a lot happened during the NP, and I don't think that my trying to explain it is going to get us anywhere.

I'd consider doing this one.

He's only hinting at how it works so far. Sounds like he has some kind of Hunter role that allows him to kill anyone who is on the lynch if he chooses. 

Yeah, and I already mentioned how I saw his continued accusations. I'm hesitant to chalk that up to scumminess because I've often mistaken his general aggression based on poor or even disproven reasoning as scum behavior.

Been thinking on it. As waifus go, Lucy is an odd choice. She’s the protagonist of Elfen Lied, and while there are certainly gratuitous nude scenes, the series is mainly known for its gore. I personally found her off-putting, especially given the trauma she was subjected to and how that affected her psyche.

I will say that what stood out to me most of all was GP being so dodgy about a full claim. It’s unusual for him to not full claim immediately, and from the sound of things, he has no reason not to claim based on his role since it’s mainly anti-town utility (Miller-esque role with some negative repercussion for lynching him). This isn’t his meta.

Well, I figured you were a given, though I appreciate you confirming.

I’m missing something, then. Why would Mikal mention that he’d sent out multiple PMs this morning if it was just one person who hadn’t confirmed?

Also, we should be able to confirm this. Did anyone receive their PM this morning?

This did stick out to me at first (I received my role PM yesterday) if not for something Mikal said at the start of the DP:

That seems pretty explicit to me. Some people did not receive a PM until this morning. That may just have been DD because he hadn't confirmed and Sui because he got recruited late, but it's possible that others weren't sent their PMs until around the same time that DD was confirmed.

That being said, I'm always wary of strange behaviors from Wylted, and he seems to be making a big deal about the scumminess of players on this basis despite the above message from Mikal also implying that messages were sent out before this morning, and given that now three of us have confirmed receipt of these messages yesterday (and I suspect others will confirm as well), I think it's odd that he's still on this tear.

Mind explaining why you're still on this, Wylted?

Hey, good to have you back at it and so willing to vote on debates, Tej. I’m sure your offer will be welcome to a lot of debaters, and I can assure anyone who is uncertain that he is an excellent voter.

I'll join.

Alright, waited long enough to do this.

I've known him for a very long time, I've worked with him in moderation before, and from what I've read of his forum posts and from speaking with him personally, I can say that I trust his commitment to the site and I think that what he's pursuing is in the best interest of everyone here. Max is not just some dude who showed up out of the blue to run for president because it seems like fun. His history on DDO shows that he dedicates himself to his position and he has kept up with the membership of this website, coming up with ambitious ideas that incorporate the input of people who have been here for years. I respect 3RU7AL and The Hammer and what they bring to the table, but Max is my choice.

I joined in 2013 largely because I was looking to debate and didn't have many opportunities to do so IRL. I'd debated in undergrad and had spent some time judging at tournaments during my Master's, so this was shortly after I'd joined my PhD program. The school had a semi-active debate program, but as my focus had largely shifted to coaching by that point, I didn't have much opportunity to debate myself. I had actually been looking for a good debate site for quite a while before DDO, though everything I found was either a very poor substitute or didn't have enough activity to make much of an impact.

As I pointed out in the Discord chat, I do think that circumstances with regards to the election do require moderation to make judgement calls, so to the extent that we're talking about what moderation could have done in this instance, we're agreed that it was within our capacities to act without involving a MEEP. I think a MEEP would address broader issues of how the site, and therefore we as moderation, should view callout threads that would help standardize our responses to them, but within the context of the election at least, I can see why mods must have increased discretion (given that the election process is new to the site and not all the rules were solidly established).

With regards to whether we should have locked this particular thread, I'll make my opinion clear. Personally, I think that instances like this where each side has instigated a back and forth that has persisted in some form over the course of several days, I couldn't view it as harassment, even if RM does. The policy regarding callout threads is there to prevent harassment, and in instances where they are one-sided (i.e. one side has consistently instigated and makes the callout thread, despite repeated requests to stop from the other party and a lack of engagement from them), I think locks on callout threads are warranted. It's a whole lot harder to justify in an instance where interactions are two-sided, largely because it's just an extension of what has been going on in other threads bubbling over into a new thread. That can be a bit spammy at times, but I don't think it necessarily warrants locking the thread, and I wouldn't say that this rose to the level of spam.

Creating less work for ourselves isn't a priority, though I wouldn't say that this was tremendously involved. Rather than a question of how much work it creates for us, though, it seems that your point is that we shouldn't be putting the onus of one user's behavior on others. To that end, I agree that we shouldn't value the reporter over the context of what's being reported. We don't just take the reporter's word for it that a given response is warranted, though I'll fully admit that we don't always come to a decision having become fully aware of the context. So, when it comes to this decision, I respect that there were good reasons to let the thread stand as it was. I also find it somewhat difficult to know where we as moderation should draw the line with regards to what is appropriate within the election period as compared with what is appropriate in general, which becomes more difficult to know when the target of criticism is no longer a candidate. It was simple for us to establish a carve out for existing candidates and agree that it was appropriate for them to be the target of callout threads. We had not established a similar carve out for active participants in the election who are not (or are no longer) candidates. This is something we should have discussed, especially given the blurred lines you mentioned. And I respect as well that, in the face of uncertainty, it may have been better not to intervene. We employ that standard in other areas of moderation, so this wouldn't have been the first time.

That being said, we are trying to balance discretion pertinent to the election with adherence to the standards as they exist. Though this thread is only pertinent within the context of the election, if a similar thread existed outside of the election period, its context wouldn't affect our decision with regards to locking it. Applying that type of decision-making here may not have been the best move, but we're new to leading this process ourselves and learning from it. I don't say this to excuse our call - and for all that people are making this Ragnar's responsibility, it is our call, Ragnar just acted on it - but just to give some insight into what we've been considering before and after we made that call. If it leads to bigger changes (both to how and where moderation acts) that improve the site far beyond this election, all the better for it.

Amending my previous choices:

Best Anime: Fall 2021

Mushoku Tensei S2

So at least we agree on one of our choices, Supa!

Fall 2021
 
Star Wars: Visions (7/10)
 
This is a series of episodes created by different anime studios (some studios did two, but the staffs for each were distinct) that depict elements of the Star Wars universe that are non-canonical, i.e. they do not involve the central cast of the Star Wars movies, though occasionally side characters appear. This allows for a number of different styles to be tried, and I think that is this series’ greatest strength. It’s just a very diverse experience with a lot of creativity on display. That does simultaneously make it difficult to become invested in any of these stories, as they start and end within a single episode. That being said, several episodes of Visions are true standouts. To my mind, the story of The Ninth Jedi and Akakiri (episodes 5 and 9, respectively) are more than good enough to warrant extensions into full series, and The Duel (episode 1) is just the coolest piece of Star Wars media I’ve ever seen. The Twins and T0-B1 (episodes 3 and 6) have some amazing animation and feature so much of what makes anime anime. The rest of the episodes, unfortunately, fall short in my estimation, which leaves the series feeling a bit average on the whole.
 
Hanma Baki: Son of Ogre (6.5/10)
 
More Baki and a slightly higher 6.5. This series still has some bonkers fights, and I actually appreciated that this season was largely contained to a single setting, giving more opportunity to get to know the characters there and establish the main brawl. The fights are as ridiculously over-the-top as ever, and everything still just seems like an excuse to get two incredibly well-sculpted men to fight just to see who’s better (that’s basically the whole series), but at least this season is more focused.
 
Aggretsuko (S4) (7.5/10)
 
Unfortunately, this season was a big step down from the previous one. I can’t say why, specifically, without getting into spoilers. However, to be vague about it, the focus on Haida is appropriate, but was rather narrow and disappointing in the end. Same great characters and interactions, and at least when it comes to company politics, there's a lot to appreciate here (most of which is erased in the end, for better or worse), but the character growth is incredibly minimal compared with the last three seasons.
 
Sakugan (7/10)
 
I liked this series more than I thought I would. It evokes amazing series like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Made in Abyss, as well as the less amazing but still solid Deca-Dence, involving a father and his brilliant daughter journeying into a labyrinth together to find a place that keeps coming to her in her dreams. Adventure stories like this are pretty intriguing in general, and the aspect of having a father and daughter traveling together is distinct, providing opportunities for some really emotional moments between our lead pair. It helps that the secondary cast is pretty colorful and fun in their own right, including some antagonists who aren’t villains for a change. Nonetheless, this very much feels like the start of a story throughout, and though it ends strong, much of the journey seems like it wastes precious time. It never reaches the heights of the series it evokes, though I remain hopeful that it has promise should a season 2 drop for this.
 
Takt op.Destiny (6/10)
 
The series follows a musician whose adoptive sister is transformed into a Musicart, a humanoid weapon that he can direct and facilitate to fight alien creatures who originate from black stones meteors. These aliens are drawn to destroy and, in particular, are drawn to anything musical. This sounds like a great premise: colorful waifus directed by music to kill black crystal aliens, and especially with the production values on this, it should have been a slam dunk. However, the narrative drags often, the lead character and his motivations remain frustrating throughout, the villain (won’t spoil who that is, but it’s not hard to figure out) is never really understood or explored enough to make them compelling, and even the basic premise of this world (how did the humans come up with Musicarts? Does it relate to the black crystals? Why music, specifically, rather than any other form of weaponry?) remain unaddressed. It feels like this series takes a strong premise and just does next to nothing with it.
 
Komi Can’t Communicate (7/10)
 
This one was overhyped. Based on a very popular manga, it’s the story about a high school girl who is extraordinarily beautiful and also extraordinarily inept when it comes to socializing, to the point that she can hardly even speak to someone. Her status as the untouchable goddess in her classroom has ensured that most other students interpret the lack of speech as disdain, when in reality Komi really just wants to make a lot of friends. She finds someone early in the series (our MC) who understands her struggle and begins to build a social life with him as an intermediary. The story is at its best when it just allows for cute moments with Komi, which are adorable, but it loses some steam as it adds more supporting characters to the roster, some of whom had more cringey or even psychotic vibes to the show that I found unwelcome. The humor is very hit and miss for me, though it might be more your style than mine. Overall, a sweet experience capped off well, even if it leaves me feeling a little empty in the end.
 
Heike Monogatari (8/10)
 
This one spoke to my interests pretty well. I've always been a history nerd and a series that depicted that with a small fantasy twist was always going to keep me interested throughout. This one, though, exceeded my expectations. The story follows Biwa, a young girl who can see the future of a person she looks at with her blue eye (she's heterochromatic). Taken in by the Heike, a powerful clan in Japan at the time, she prophesizes their downfall and lives with them from then on, seeing them to their inevitable fate. A lot of this series is a slow burn, taking its time to bring you the interactions of its characters within the mesh of the world's history. I can't say I was too enthralled with just that in its early phases. However, as it progresses and its characters (whether by choice or by force) make decisions that either help or harm their clan and/or themselves, it becomes much more interesting to watch that snowball pick up steam. In its last several episodes, particularly its finale, this series really comes together in a beautiful way that I loved.

Mushoku Tensei S2 (8.5/10)
 
I’d been told ahead of time that S2 was where this series really gets going and that’s certainly true. Much of what makes this story interesting – its worldbuilding and character development – happens here. I won’t spoil how that initiate or where things go, but the emotional moments really get cranked up in this series and the action goes to a whole other level. It doesn’t quite match the incredible heights of Re:Zero, partially because the lead character is still, in many ways, the same person he was upon arrival, though to be fair, he’s learned quite a few lessons. This season still leaves me excited for the future of the series, especially given how much source material there is to draw from.

Anime of the Year: Odd Taxi, which quickly joined my top 10 list of all time. The only other new series that was in contention was Ousama Ranking, which is stellar, but it's only about halfway done at this point so I'll wait to review it. Re:Zero, despite already being on my top 10, didn't have its best work this year. Still, Re:Zero S2, Pt. 2 and Scissor Seven S3 are in a dead heat for my favorite sequel series of the year, with Mushoku Tensei S2 close behind.

Alright, this will probably be my last post for a while, given that I'm now through with the retrospective and this will catch me up to the current season. If people are interested in discussing series/movies/OVAs/etc., we can absolutely do so, but given the lack of activity in general on this, it will probably end here. Still, I enjoyed posting my thoughts and I hope other people gleaned something meaningful from my ramblings.

Most of the shows this season are finally done and I'm finally caught up on the year's worth of anime, of which there was quite a lot. There are exceptions for series that are ongoing, and, in the case of the second season of 86, production issues led to delays and now the last two episodes won't air until mid-March. Frustrating, since it’s still a contender for best of the season. 
 
Before I get into my watch list from the fall, here are a couple of series from this year (specifically, this past winter and spring) that I finally got around to watching. There was quite a bit of solid material this season that was very much worth watching, just wish I'd gotten more ahead on watching them.
 
Megalo Box: Nomad (8/10)
 
This season exceeded the original in almost every way. Whereas the original had a narrative that was largely what you would expect for an underdog story in a given sport (with a few twists and turns thrown in), this is what happens after all is said and done. What truly sets it apart is the tone of the whole season. There’s a melancholy to this one, but one with a continuous undertone of hope. The arcs are beautifully done and the lessons learned are hard-fought. It doesn’t have fights quite as great as some in S1 and its big emotional peaks are a bit muted by comparison, but that’s part of the point here and I think it works very well.
 
Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song (8/10)
 
A story of a humanoid AI who is tasked with making everyone happy by singing who finds herself conscripted by a future AI to prevent a coming AI apocalypse. The animation in this series, especially during fight scenes and with Vivy’s eyes in particular, is top notch. The narrative is gripping, though it does stumble in a couple of places. Part of what makes this interesting is that she’s conscripted at various points over a 100 year period, which means she’s only doing this “save the world” business at specific inflection points that lead to the coming apocalypse. It’s intriguing to see how the world around her changes over that time and how Vivy changes. The fight scenes feature spectacular choreography, particularly in the 1v1 fights. I can’t say it was always on point, but it was often enough and was unique enough to be a strong entry.
 
Log Horizon S3 (5/10)
 
Log Horizon was my first brush with good isekai. This was similar to Sword Art Online, but without the threat of imminent death, which gave the series plenty of opportunities to explore the gameplay and build out the world in fun and interesting ways. The series follows an enchanter who is pretty great at the game, but is best known for his strategizing and quick thinking, making him incredibly effective at managing the environment after a whole bunch of people become trapped in the game. Season 1 was really good. Season 2 retained some of the fun but had some major pacing issues and the latter half of the season was just plain boring. Season 3 takes all the worst parts of Season 2 and expands them to a full and very boring series. Its only saving grace is that these are still fun characters and it’s still a well-defined world, even if that’s becoming less true by the season. Very disappointed by this one.
 
Mushoku Tensei S1 (7.5/10)
 
A modern isekai, and one that stands out. A shut-in is killed by truck-kun and is reborn in a fantasy world. Yes, all of this is very tropey, but considering that the written material for this series is among the very first isekai light novels (it started back in 2014), it arguably started these tropes. More importantly, the series doesn’t live and die based on its tropes. The characters and world are far more fleshed out than your bog-standard isekai, and its lead struggles to deal with the baggage of his past life in a way that feels genuine. This also has some of the best animation of recent series with an almost storybook appeal to it, as well as a solid soundtrack. This season drags a bit in the story department, though it does a more than serviceable job building out its characters in the process. The narrative is also dragged down a bit by its lead character who, being a 44-year-old man in a child’s body, ends up being more cringey and frustrating to watch than I’d like. He improves as the series goes on, but he and many of the characters around him behave in ways that I’ve unfortunately become used to from other isekai, even if they’re careful never to go too far. It’s a good start to the series, but aside from its animation, I can’t say that this one really stands out yet.
 
Scissor 7 (S3) (8.5/10)
 
I’ve already discussed this series and what I love about it, but this season is distinct from the rest. Our lead character and many of his compatriots leave their island on separate missions, and while I thought that might take away from their character interactions in ways that would diminish the comedy and/or drama of the series, this one really ratcheted up the tension and focuses much more closely on our MC in ways I very much appreciated. It’s the least funny of the seasons, but it more than makes up for it in other departments. If anyone is uncertain about this series because they don’t know where it will go, this season should give you hope that it can only go up from here.

Looks like Supa already addressed this. I can look into Pilksen in more detail, but KingLaddy shut down this account.

Pretty sure he didn't survive the Holocaust any more than I did (just a tad before our time), but the rest of this is legit.

Yes, because my position being consistent with the rest of moderation in stating that we should not interfere at this stage is "playing games", and my being tagged repeatedly by you for the purpose of dragging me into multiple threads so that you can point to certain choices your opponent has made is just asking questions and not at all playing games.

Interesting framing of how this little back and forth has been going.

In any case, in case I am somehow playing into this, I'll bow out for now. Should something else come up, I'm sure you'll be the first to let me know.

I'd say you've been doing more than asking, but if that's how you want to play it, then go for it.

You want me to step in the middle of this, clearly. I don't need to do your work for you, nor do I need to take sides here. You're perfectly capable of pointing out the faults in your opponent. I don't know when you came under the misapprehension that I was supposed to be the arbiter of truth in this election, but I am not and won't pretend to be.

RM, he quoted you from a previous thread without context and he's arguing with you. If you want to call that campaigning, then fine, but that's not out of bounds.

And if you want to point out the fact that he's doing it despite his stating that he suspended his campaign, fine. It's not our arena to enforce his own statements. Whether he's stated that he's actively campaigning or not, if he does something that is clearly out of bounds based on the election rules, we'll intervene. As of yet, he hasn't.

Well, it seems like we're generally on the same page about the WoT series. I knew it wouldn't be nearly as good as the books, but I hoped for better than this. Figures. Anyway, for other recommendations, I don't know if you've read much of Brandon Sanderson's other work (he wrote the last few books in Robert Jordan's stead), but they're all winners. Garth Nix is also a favorite writer of mine in the genre.

And yeah, if all you've seen is the 2003 series, it's still pretty great. I would absolutely recommend Brotherhood if you get a chance.

The response to moderation intervening in instances like this is usually pretty negative, and our goal here isn't to micromanage how anyone runs their campaign or smears another. Seems unnecessary to rope us into individual posts like this, but if it supports your narrative, go for it.