Dear SteamGifts community,

I'm sad to announce that I have made the decision to step down from creating / maintaining bundle threads starting 01 Jan 2025.
I am not quitting SteamGifts, but I will remain active only through comments and giveaways.


This might seem sudden for you, but it’s a decision I reached after lengthy consideration. For seven years, I’ve been the main person to create bundle threads and I would have probably been able to continue for many more, if not for some external factors that were out of my control.

2024 was one of the more difficult years of my life. I’ve continuously been the target of online harassment and untruthful / unfounded accusations, in many of these cases without a way for me to disprove them. I considered explaining myself many times, but past experience shows that those who seek to harm me aren’t looking for an explanation, and anything I dare to say in my defense would only be twisted into even worse lies. It’s understandable that without opening up and showing my side of the story, some of you might have negatively changed your opinion about me. This was a risk I knowingly took, as the least bad of the two options.

Seven years of doing bundle threads is a long time and aiming to keep these bundle threads as informative as possible and posting them close to the bundle launch time required a lot of sacrifices on my part. My sleep was the first one to be affected, as trying to be online when a bundle might (not necessarily would) launch often meant cutting down on my sleep, shifting the flow of my entire day (thus affecting the schedule of my family and friends too) or even scheduling trips in order to accommodate bundle threads as much as possible, all that not even knowing the bundle schedule in advance, as this is rarely made public. Obviously, no one forced me to do so, but in regards to bundle threads, I always wanted to give my best, and for me that meant first and foremost creating the thread as soon as possible, especially in the Humble BTA era - a habit that I continued even after it, throughout the years. Balancing bundle threads and work never was (and still isn't) an easy thing but at least it improved my ability to handle multiple mental tasks at the same time.

Aside from bundle thread creation, additional time went into maintaining these threads too: reading all the comments & continuously updating threads with the information you guys kindly share (coupons, subs, free DLC to claim, out of stock items, etc.). Together with my daily activities on Barter.vg (syncing this information between the two platforms was primarily done by me), these ate a significant chunk of my free time, similar to an unpaid part-time job. I’ve never received any monetary compensation for it, and I never wanted any compensation in the first place. My reason for doing this was always to help the two communities and keep the information as comprehensive as possible. It’s the kind of work that would be boring for most people, and get even more repetitive over the years, but I’m the kind of person who derives satisfaction and a feeling of stability from doing the same thing over and over again. I've always struggled to find my place in this world, but bundle threads (and Barter to some extent) gave me the feeling of contributing to society in a way that suited me.

Looking back at all these, I realized that a change is long overdue, as scary as that change might be. Firstly, due to the current online harassment situation, being a public person brings me more harm than I am willing to accept. Needless to say, I shouldn’t let myself be affected by what others think of me or say about me. To some extent I can do that but there’s still a line when too much hostility actually becomes… simply too much. Secondly, I’d like to allocate this time to something else. I’m not yet sure what that will be, for now I will keep myself open to possibilities and see what life has in stock for me.

As I step down from making bundle threads on SteamGifts, I also step down from Barter.vg. I’ve been the go-to person for most things on Barter during the past ~9 years, dealing with pretty much anything that was needed at the time when it was needed, filling every gap when there was no one else willing to do so. That may have made people mistaken me as an admin having full authority on Barter, and as a natural consequence, I attracted a certain amount of hate regarding some decisions that were taken during the recent years, while in reality those decisions were not mine to take. I’ve been held culpable and blamed for things that I didn’t even do. Different user groups have directly accused me of the exact nasty behavior that they themselves engage in, to justify the very same, and intentionally kept spreading those lies about me.

Much like SteamGifts, Barter.vg works solely on a volunteer-basis, with people assuming certain roles temporarily and performing them whenever they see fit or when their time allows. Without someone to be there when no one else is available or as a backup for them, Barter data (bundles, giveaways, items, notices) will probably see a decrease in consistency in the near future. At the moment of writing this, I can’t tell in what way the platform will change (or if it will in any way). Its future and shape is still in talks with the admin because there are several other factors to consider.

I’ll end this huge wall of text by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who supported me throughout the years. You were the reason for which I was able to continue doing this for so long. Thank you for the laughs we had together, for keeping the discussions on the bundle threads drama-free, for helping each other (and me) by answering questions, submitting region lock information, prices in different currencies and correcting my mistakes. Going forth, I hope you will show the same kindness and support to the people who will step up and continue doing this work.


🚂🚂🚂 A little train of various little indie games 🚂🚂🚂

2 hours ago*

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its not sudden - plenty of time to settle - but its sad - you did a great job - thanks!!!!!1!

2 hours ago
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You've done an amazing job. I hope the separation does well for you.

2 hours ago
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Thank you so much for your work! It's one of the greatest things and contributions on Steamgifts i know. I really appreciated the effort and i think from your writing, that you sacrificed too much (regarding schedules and sleep), of course that was your own choice. But it's understandable to step down from that after such a long time. Well deserved rest.

Fuck the haters, i don't know how people can hate on such valuable contributors. That's despicable. And well online hating and big mouthing is easy and mostly without consequences :(

2 hours ago
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Thanks for all the work in the threads throughout the years, I wish you the best going forward and fuck the chronically online people that always have something negative to say (here and in other online places).

2 hours ago
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Thank you for all you did! I don't buy bundles but I appreciate all the info, charts, etc you provided <3
Hope you enjoy your time! You certainly deserve some rest and relaxation ^_^

1 hour ago
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You've done an amazing job. Why people bother OTHER people that is working (for free, and doing a great service), I will never understand.

Good luck in whatever new project you focus on now.

1 hour ago
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You have my utmost and deepest respect for all that you've done here.
Thank you.

1 hour ago
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Thank you for your service 🫡

It's very sad to see you go, but all good things come to an end someday. Good luck to whatever you decide to dedicate yourself to next and cheers!

1 hour ago
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Wouldn't know even what it's about, and this forum had plenty bullies, luckily most of them went away.

Good luck and thanks.

1 hour ago
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Thank you for your work and best of luck for what is ahead! Haters can go to hell.

1 hour ago
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Thanks for all the help and effort you've put into making our lives easier over the years. We were incredibly lucky to have you. Fingers crossed you can finally get some well-deserved shut-eye 🤗

1 hour ago
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Good luck.

1 hour ago
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This is why we can't have nice things.
Thanks a TON for your work. I've only seen a glimpse of the bad things, and... Yeah, it's only understandable.
I hope things will get much better for you IRL after this pressure is gone.

1 hour ago
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Thank you for everything you've done.I wish you goodluck in your future endeavors and wish you the best.Sad to see a helpful person being harassed so much and still serving the community until they couldnt anymore.I hope that those people realise their mistake someday and apologize (one can wish only).Thank you,for everything you've done and all the smiles you've brought on people's faces.🙂

1 hour ago
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Thank you for everything you have done in those years!

Good luck...

1 hour ago
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Thank you for all the hard work you put into making this site a better place. It is much appreciated. 👏

1 hour ago
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You’ve been the curator of steamgifts itself. Thank you for your amazing work!
If a new bundle dropped the first thing to check was for your Post on it, it would be there without fail.
You should be whitelisted on default, and enjoy your „retirement“ :)

1 hour ago
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Ouch, another comfy person around to let go of. I know, I know, you're not going away, but let me tell you how much stability and satisfaction YOUR contiuous work has given ME. Your threads are so reliable, a true source to go to.

Anyways, understandable decision. Shocked to hear you did all this work over all of these years for free. I sincerely hope Karma will balance this out.

Thanks for everything!

1 hour ago
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I was not expecting this Lilly and i am so sorry to hear that you have had so many issues with online harrassment on both barter and on Steamgifts. The deals threads that you have created over the years are synonymous with you and they will be hugely missed by myself and countless others i am sure. Having been on this forum for over 8 years, the only other people that have done this job i can remember are RachelLove, Godfeelling and MilleW but they were only for relatively short periods of my time here on SG.

You will be sorely missed as whoever takes over this will have to have big shoulders to take this on. I hope that the extra time you get from not having to do this will bring you joy and happiness and some much needed sleep! 🛌🏼💤

Best Wishes to you and once again thank you for the amazing contributions you made to this place over the last seven years! 💙

1 hour ago
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Can't thank you enough for all the time and effort you dedicated over all these years. If I had to find out about a new bundle, the sg deals forum was the first place I would check because of you.
I'm completely out of the loop about the whole situation, but I can only wish you best of luck with any and everything you decide to do from now on.

1 hour ago
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Thank you for the dedication and all the hard work. I wish good things for your future.

1 hour ago
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damn, that sucks to hear😐 you've done a great job, I thank you for that, and honestly can't imagine anyone else keeping it on the same quality level. is there any slight chance you might reconsider and continue?👀

1 hour ago
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Thank you for all your hard work. I hope you'll be able to live more leisurely from now on.

1 hour ago
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Thank you for everything you've done for this community 💙

1 hour ago
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Thank you very much for your contributions over all these years. It will be sad not to see you in future deals threads, but I hope you find better things that fulfill you in the near future. And... fuck the haters

1 hour ago
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