SG Etiquette

Made a similar thread a couple months ago. Will be interesting to see if the results change, especially since there is more options. :p

I'm part of the "I don't want any generic thanks messages" group, in fact I might have been one of its founding fathers (the first time I asked people not to write any generic thanks messages was back in 2012). The only time I've ever threatened to blacklist someone over thanks messages was when I had a special event with nearly 40 active giveaways. If there had been even one or two persons who had decided to say thanks in every GA then a lot of relevant messages would have got buried.

In general, you should be safe as long as you read the giveaway description. There will be exceptions, people who blacklist you for saying/not saying thanks even if they never said anything about it in the description, but most people who care on way or another tend to write it in the giveaway description. If they don't say anything, then it's up to you to decide what you feel is right.
Also, while people don't want generic thanks messages, most people do want interesting messages, and are alright with you saying something, as long as it's relevant.

Oh ya about it clogging your messages.
When you click on the message icon, on the left they have categorizes so you can always use that as well. I forgot tit existed actually.. lol

I'm not going to blacklist people for thanking me, and when it seems genuine (when it seems that the person actually appreciates the chance to win the game and is excited about it), I appreciate it. However, getting lots of notifications of copy-pasted "thanks" comments that people just post on mental autopilot is something I'd rather avoid. Those comments don't mean anything. The people are not actually thankful for the giveaway, and the comments are just cluttering up my notifications and making me miss stuff that might actually matter. Yes, I know about the categories, but usually I check all the notifications and don't bother individually checking the categories. I'm lazy.

What I do want to see, though, is a thank you comment when someone WINS something and I deliver the link/key via SteamGifts. Failing to do that is something that I may blacklist people for.

If someone you don't know gave you something for free would you thank them? No matter how small the game is, you chose to roll. If you win IMO you should say thanks. I like to comment a lot in other peoples GA because I like to. If someone BL me because of it to bad for them. Be thankful if you win. Outside of that be you and don't let a few black lists or whitelists sway you.

posting the same generic message on each GA will look like a bot, and probably get you blacklisted.
even if you aren't blacklisted, it's kinda sad to reply with the same message all the time, it looks lazy and in the end annoying. they are a lot of variations you can write. :3

anyway, you could reply if the GA creator asks something in the description. that's what i think most people do. but since i'm a spammer i reply to mostly on every giveaway :3

"Read the Descriptions First" is my suggestion.
Personally, I don't blacklist such a reason. I appreciate their time and attention for typing or Crtl-V. But, I have some experiences being blacklisted for 'thanks for the chance' messages. I almost stop doing it now.

I think reading what people say probably helped me here. Only unwritten etiquette i know is probably "commeting after winning" which is a natural thing for me. But i started to not write thanks if there is no description.

Blacklists and Whitelists exist to make people feel more important than they really are.

Read the descriptions and well, follow the rules, other than that be yourself, some people will like you and other people won't , but u will end up making friends anyways so no worries :3 ~

Would feel a little discouraged if I did a giveaway and received no comments at all, no blacklisting either way but I appreciate them.

Winners not saying something is flat out rude imo. Still no blacklist although I have been tempted.

Only time I would rather not have the comments is when I have many public giveaways open, someone enters a big batch of them within the space of a few seconds and they've left the same exact comment on each giveaway. It points to script or bot use, the person not paying attention or giving any thought to what they're entering for, and their messages look very disingenuous and spammy. Would rather not get those.

I leave a comment on every giveaway I enter unless I'm entering lots from the same person, am asked not do so, or there is a hint that the person isn't really a fan of them. No fears over being blacklisted at all.

Consider the two negative outcomes you can have from either thanking or not thanking:

On one side, you can thank the creator all the time and you may offend someone who thinks saying thanks and what not is spam (obviously it's better to leave an actual message, than just a thanks, it doesn't take much more time than hitting the Enter giveaway button, I swear)

On the other side, you can not thank the creator and you may offend someone who thinks it's ungrateful/disrespectful not to thank on giveaways.

In my opinion I definitely think the second scenario is far ruder. "Thanks" are meant as a message of gratitude, if someone is annoyed because you thanked them on their giveaway then it's their problems, it shouldn't be the status quo. They can put it in their description not to write generic thank messages. We shouldn't be teaching people that thanking is bad. I get that just saying "thanks" isn't all that much, but it IS something. It is sad when less than 10% of entrants take the time to show any amount of appreciation, yet they all took the 2-3 seconds it takes to write thanks to enter the giveaway. For my own giveaways I don't care, but I NEVER make that assumption for other giveaway creators.

p.s. my comments are made without any concern about blacklist or whitelist.

I appreciate thanks comments, but I don't blacklist over it, unless you're the winner of the giveaway. In that case, if you don't leave a comment you get an instant blacklist.

Do not worry about pointless things like "etiquette", as they are not objective. Only worry about how others feel about you if you want to win their games. Otherwise, just feel what feels right to you. You can never satisfy everyone. It's a safe assumption that the majority will be fine with you thanking. Unless specifically stated in the giveaway description, there is 0 reason to assume either way. After winning, most people would consider it nice to thank though.

Rule of thumb - always be grateful and say thanks if you're a winner. Do not spam thanks in every giveaway you join, unless you have valid reason or something interesting to add to that comment.

This is my approach. "Valid reason" is also the case when creator explicitly asks for that, or wishes from us to do something else.

You'll never satisfy everyone, you can only try to satisfy majority of people, rather than minority.

suggestion Add a support request to re-roll another winner - reason: The existing winner is a ungrateful dick.

For the winner - it is good manners and the right thing to do - to acknowledge that you have received the key and there is some feeling of gratitude. Even just a friendly grunt is better than being ignored in silence.

Users who do cannot type something to say thanks for a free game get blacklisted (I even have a big hint to the effect on my steam profile). Every thankless winner improves the future chances for others.

To date more than 2 out of 3 Giveaways I have run are completely thankless (from the winner) - sometimes I wish I could've given it to those who took some effort in the GA comments.

I don't want SteamGifts to be all about stuffing your lootbag with no interest or gratitude towards other people.

Read the giveaway's description.
Follow instructions.
Say thanks when you win.
That's all I do. shrug

In my own GAs, I don't care if they comment or not (I usually leave note that comments are fine), but a thank you after the key is sent is always appreciated.

I try to say thanks if I win, and if the description asks for something in lieu of thanks I do that. Beyond that, unless it's something I really am itching for/excited about I don't say anything.

On my own giveaways I don't care one way or the other. I just skim the comments, looking for questions or the like. I'm not gonna blacklist people for not saying it, they could be entering dozens of giveaways, don't expect them, to write something personal for each one, or just paste the same thing over and over.

"They're appreciated but not mandatory." For me it is just nice to know that someone took the time to write something.

It's best to read the descriptions and see what the user likes. Sometimes they don't have one or don't state it and will still blacklist you. People have different rules for their own giveaways and you can never really please everyone with just one type of action. I do understand reading all the descriptions is impossible if you join a lot of giveaways (I sometimes don't have time for them either), but reading them in giveaways you want to comment in is wise, in case the person asks for no comments or thanks.

As for what is proper, I think thanking for the giveaway or at least winning it is only polite and should be encouraged. It's just that some don't like thanking-spam done by bots and having their notifications clogged up. I do wish SG would implement a "no notifications" choice for such folks though, because they still get annoyed by bots and might end up blacklisting people offering genuine thanks too.

In general, read descriptions and try to thank when you really feel like it, like for a game you really badly want. I also sometimes comment on giveaways where the creator has a friendly and well-wishing description, but no comments under it. Just so they won't feel their effort went to waste. Spamming generic "thanks" everywhere is tiring for you and doesn't really show thankfulness anyway, it looks like doing a chore you don't want to do. So it's best to comment less and comment from the heart. Still, always thank when you win, unless the description strictly says otherwise. That's just common decency.

There's no "correct" response. We're a bunch of different people obviously, and as such, have differing opinions.

On public GA's, I don't comment unless there is a prompt, I don't comment if somebody mentions not to, or if they post a crap tonne of GA's all at once.

I DO comment on smaller group GA's, and smaller invite only forum GA's, whitelist GA's, and the occasional "super whilelist" GA. That's in addition to every GA i've won. I also like to comment after I've beaten a game to let the creator know that I put time into it and enjoyed it.

I don't mind about "bad" ratios as this is a giving site. If we all had 1-1 ratios, it would be a random trading site instead. I'm not a fan of auto-enter scripts

I

Still waiting for "disable comments" option

Thanks clog up the message notifications.

In many of my giveaways, especially my earlier ones, I wrote odd or quirky things and people almost never responded to them. I just got a bunch of generic thanks from random people. Disclosure: my giveaways are not awesome.

Anyway, for a while there I joined the "don't thank me" brigade, even threatening blacklisting, but eventually I stopped that, and everyone on my blacklist now is a rulebreaker or major asshat.

The biggest thanks a person can give you is to actually play the game they won (something many of us fail to do as seemingly everyone has a massive backlog of unplayed games), or even better, actually give something away to others.

I don't begrudge those who want to be thanked, or want a response, or those who want no thanks. But personally, I don't want it.