We've been so talkative, I haven't had a chance to post my reread of TA. I started out thinking he was scummy, based on a few things:
-- his bringing up claiming in the beginning just to say "be very very careful" struck me as scummy, because it could be an excuse to get people thinking about claiming and seeming towny at the same time by saying "don't!".
-- his calling me the scummier of me and Shraeye was also odd to me, but I think now he may have taken my "what ifs" as accusations.
-- his case on sb and his defense of mail-mi do give me pause. sb was rude to him, which might be contributing to his confidence of that read, but I would think he would try to take that into account. I don't see much evidence to support his level of certainty there. And the same with mail-mi. There's not much evidence to support his defense of mail-mi, either. Otoh, his certainty is consistent with his general confidence in his own opinions.
There is also substantial evidence arguing against scumminess:
-- As usual, he is an equal opportunity challenger of anything scummy.
-- He brings up the possibility that scum can steal items. This could be read either way, but in general I don't think scum would want to alert town to possible dangers, especially since scum could get a stealing power from items even if they don't have one now. This was a strong indicator of towniness for me.
-- His response to Shraeye's case was on point and contained. I think his calmness represents a maturing of him as a player more than scum behavior.
-- His reads refer to actual things people have said.
SO, I have to withdraw my earlier prediction that TA is "probably" scum, and have hope of having the happiness in the future of saying he is probably town.
PPE: there have been tons of posts since I started typing this. I'll amend as needed after I read them.