# Forbidden Forest - Unspoiled Harry Potter Mafia Discussion

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [June 27, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719 "2010-06-27T22:22:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 49

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719/49 "2010-07-07T16:08:48Z")

</div>

I will include my response to Rysto here for posterity:

> [@Harry Potter Mafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-mafia/544429/98):
>
> In Cecil Pond, one of the masons went on a mass voting spree at one point before he’d claimed. About a Day after he did claim, one of the other town players commented that if the scum were to just eliminate all players that the known masons had voted for and all of the scum, they stood a very good chance of uncovering the last unclaimed mason. People jumped on him for saying that, and his defence was that all the information was out in the open and the scum had probably already worked it out. Now, I was scum in that game. It never occurred to any of us that we could do this(we were rather more worried about a non-existent cop, as it happens). The thing was, even if the scum _had_ figured it out, town got no benefit from that fact being in the open. And sometimes, even if the conclusion seems obvious, the scum will miss it! They aren’t perfect; they’ll miss townie slips just as town players will miss scum slips.
> 
> So please, I’m asking all of you: if you are in possession of non-public information, think about whether it should be made public. What benefit is there to town to have that information in the open? What benefit is there to scum?

I would encourage all players to consider that the other players ARE thinking about their actions. In Cecil Pond I was the whistleblower on the masons outing themselves. I thought about the pros and cons for quite a while before pointing that out thank-you-very-much.

1. The Mason voting spree was obvious. That scum were lazy is incidental.
2. _I_ was in the set of possible masons. In other words, I knew that if there was another mason in the isolated set, there was also a non-mason (me). Pretending to be ‘mad’ at being outed was a play at protecting the last mason.

Just because things work out a certain way doesn’t mean people aren’t being careful and thoughtful of their actions.

On the balance Rysto’s comments boil down to “think about your actions” which is always true.

Trying to explain when Town should reveal information and when they shouldn’t is a tricky venture. There is no “rule” or easy guide. It’s too easy to point out after the fact what someone should have done. Everyone has to play with the information and situation at hand and just do their best. Sometimes hiding information is best; sometimes revealing it is best; sometimes there is hidden information that flips what is best.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-forest-unspoiled-harry-potter-mafia-discussion/544719)._