Fishbulb!

[Dasquian]

To some extent it's inevitable, since you'll look back (mentally) on people's past play and posts to determine their innocence in the current game, as well as things they've mentioned idly about mafia strategies they like/dislike, etc. It's all going to build up their profile.

I don't think there's a clear line. I think the best we can hope for is to avoid deliberately using "neutral ground" as you aptly put it to tactical advantage. A single game should stay in a single thread, even if you're drawing on older games and other threads for info. It all goes pear-shaped when there's meta-gaming and subtle clue-dropping in other threads. So although you might post something in a mafia discussion thread which makes people stop and think, as long as you're not conciously saying anything which you think could have an impact on your current games, you're OK.

[Dasquian]

Anyway, I agree with Dasquian. There is no clear line, and as long as what you are doing ties in with your strategy for that game, how it affects other games is not an issue as far as I'm concerned. Almost all's fair in mafia.

Er, that's not what I said at all. Or meant, at least

My take is that although you will always use external information to judge people, you shouldn't deliberately plant external information to be judged by, or even participate in discussions where people will read into your posts about your current games.

I'm saying: if you're playing a game, don't play it anywhere except in the game thread (and PMing for mafias, masons, etc).