Self-Voting: is it always a bad idea?

[Tarhalindur]

Self-voting isn't usually a good idea as town (though I've been known to self-vote and even self-hammer as town, usually due to frustration), since it deprives the town of information from the lynch.

I do not agree, however, with the people who think that a townie should always play to keep themselves alive. In my opinion, a vanilla townie shouldn't care about being lynched in the early game (the information gained from the bandwagon far outweighs the loss of a townie, especially if the town plays properly), since the town's top priority is to kill the scum (NOT to survive).

The only strong argument I can see for townies offering defense on D1 or D2 is that it makes it harder for the scum to distinguish power roles.