SG Etiquette

1) Did the creator state a preference for feedback in his description? If so, FOLLOW IT. If not, proceed to step 2.
2) Do you have a question about the giveaway that needs to be answered by the creator? If so, go ahead and ask it. If not, proceed to step 3.
3) Are you excited about this particular game, or are you just entering because you've got P to burn and the game has Trading Cards you can farm? If you're really excited about the game, say something nice/interesting/non-generic. Otherwise, proceed to step 4.
4) Did you win? SAY THANKS!
5) If you got to step 5, you've done something wrong, go re-read the guide. Otherwise, you're probably writing a generic "thanks" and you're going to look like: a script, an auto-enroller, or just someone pretending to care (even if you actually do care).

I'm fine if someone wants to say something more than "thanks" on a GA, like "Hey, this is on my wishlist! I really appreciate it!" Or, "Have you played this one? What do you think of it?" But, generic thanks aren't necessary for mine, and I prefer if people don't because it clogs up my messages. However, IF people do, I figure they're being sincerely appreciative and I'll just smile and let it go and move on.

The only time I get bent out of shape is if someone wins and they DON'T thank me at all. Then that's an automatic blacklist.

I normally don't say thanks in a giveaway unless the creator specifies it. If I win I will comment on there thanking them for the game using their name as well. For my giveaways I don't really care, some comments are good but I'd probably prefer not to get heaps of comments just saying thanks but if I do that's fine, I won't complain. If someone says thanks after receiving the game from me that's great, it's always nice to receive that comment but I won't blacklist or whitelist either way.

Honestly, as long as someone posts something. I can go through the comments and look for ones that I like/appreciate(although I appreciate all comments that aren't blatant spam/disrespectful), as I've done with all of my giveaways. No reason for me to care about messages being clogged up, either. I'm not used to it in any case.

I don't mind the thanks, but I don't think it's necessary either. I'm not going to blacklist people just because they thank a lot. Unless it's a case where I've put something like "if you comment then answer this question instead of saying thanks" then I'll consider blacklisting just because the person didn't bother to read the description. So far I've only blacklisted two people because of this, so I don't think I blacklist excessively. :D

I appreciate it when people say thanks. To me it is better than saying nothing at all--take it this way: I give you a gift and you just leave without saying a word. I don't blacklist people for not saying thanks though. Only leechers and obnoxious people on the forum.

I always say thanks when I win. But sometimes I'm so happy that I activate the game and start downloading it and forget about the thanks. When that happens, I write my thanks comment as soon as I remember it. But I honestly don't care when it's my GA. I hope it's someone who really wants and will enjoy the game that wins, but it's ok if they don't say thanks after they won.

I wouldn't mind it as much if I didn't have a whole bunch of giveaways running and a forum thread, plus replies right now.

Well it depends on the person, a lot of people don't like getting "Thanks" spam on their inbox. If you are worried about it don't comment unless the GA description says otherwise.

used to read description and handwrite thanks for each giveaway i entered for thousands of times, now i don't really care anymore and just enter

Indeed you'll find all kind of opinions around here I'm pretty sure of that.

I'll be honest I'm somewhere between "They're appreciated but not mandatory" and "I don't care". xD

If I really payed attention so much to this in every single one of my GAs, I think I'd probably sleep harder at night. It's just too much trouble to care much about it, if you ask me. Steamgifts is already taking too much of my time as it is (yes it's almost an addiction unfortunately). So why bother with that stuff too? :P As long as it is checked as received within some days, I'm pretty fine with that. Comments or not, matter not that much to me at this point.

NO THANKS IS BLACKLIST

It's nice to get a thank you from the winner, and annoying to get thank yous from 200 random people who entered. I wouldn't blacklist anyone over either one, though.

I usually include a discussion question with my GAs, and people are pretty cool about giving thoughtful responses instead of just "thanks." It's fun.

Hm... For me? I don't blacklist for saying thanks when entering giveaway and I don't see anything wrong with that, though I can understand why it's annoying for some people. On the other hand, not saying "thank you" AFTER WINNING is something that I find simply rude and ungrateful. To be honest, I don't see a reason to go around and spam generic "thanks" everywhere in a bot-like manner, but when you actually get something you should show your appreciation.

Personally I only say thanks before winning if the game is on my wishlist or the person that made the GA asked for it. Although sometimes when entering group GA's I also tend to write something, but usually a bit more then just thanks.

I don't blacklist for saying thanks, but sometimes I do BL someone if he won something and never said anything to me. That's kind of annoying to me, since you take your time to send that person a free game and then he doesn't even bother to say thanks.

I just joined 1-2 months ago, but those are my thoughts:

I think entering "thanks" on every giveaway you take part is too much and just spamming the GA creator.
I saw someone who entered "thanks" as a message on almost every giveaway of a 2016 wagon train. That's just ridiculous annoying for the creators.
I'm sure people won't be mad if it's atleast a bit more than just that single word. Always posting the same reply might get you blacklists as well because of people seeing you as a script user.
If people ask for funny or cute pictures, music or whatever - I do them the favor. Doing so you might highlight your own day as well by seeing that kind of stuff while searching for a good one.

You should atleast thank the GA creator if you win the game. Just leaving "thanks" as a reply might feel like a bot farming your giveaways, so writing down a bit more doesn't really hurt and will give a better feeling to the creator of the GA.

Whatever you do, make sure you do it in a mankini.

Beyond that, just go with whatever puts a rise in your rhubarb...

"They clog up my messages."
And quite a lot.

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I don't care either way about thanks from people who enter and I don't send thanks unless I win something since I heard most people find it annoying. But I blacklist anyone who wins a game from me and doesn't have the decency to thank me. Anyone who takes the time to thank me gets whitelisted. Simple as that.

I don't blacklist for ratio anymore (0.8 ratio with 8 given, 10 win or 800 and 1000, how's fair the X difference - 2 / 200?) and except for 1 or 2 extremely annoying people, neother do I for messages. I'm not happy about it, but pressing the " mark all as read" button isn't that hard that I should blacklist anyone over that.
Though blacklisted:

• People who are long-time site users and give free games - they know it's against rules.
• Multiple win / no activation - if it's recent with long time member, or happened multiple with at least a few months between them: that means they don't learn. Also, if they fix it by getting the game / rerolling their doubles by gifting the game or something like that, the yare removed from BL - people worth the second chance, IF they prove they want to improve and they act for it.
• People who are simply jerks, but I try and not apply to ones I personally talk to: I really try to avoid blacklisting anyone because they annoyed me, but people who were generally as rude as it's possible - this helps to stay objective. For example if someone tells someomne with ~5 ratio and hundreds of giveaways that they shouldn't even look at their group recruit page and gtfo, labeling them leechers and posting various "why the fuck do you lie" gifs like a histerical 13 year old, that's way too much.
• No back-blacklisting for the sake of revenge - but I do, if they don't stand up to these points here.
• And for last, I don't know if this is good or not - thanking for a won giveaway - to be honest I give 2-3 days to say thank you, but during that time I forget to check my giveaways, so very likely they won't get blacklisted.

The problem with the blacklists is the same with guns - it's with the people. For example I use the blacklist to filter out people who can't keep the rules of the site, or to keep away the people whom I don't even would want to talk in real life because of they being ignorant, racist, biased, and so on. Others have their blacklist, and they feel the need of fill it up (I'm also have like 200 person on it, likely that few permabanned since) to the brim, and they are making up anything to put people on the list.
TLDR about blacklist management generally two kinds of people: fltering up the people one doesn't find worthy <--> Creating reasons to find as many people unworthy as possible

Winning a giveaway is kind of a big deal for me, so I want to make sure the giver will know I appreciate them a lot. I won one game and gave a thank-you, and will do it in future if I get lucky again.
I like when winners thank me, it's like acknowledgement that the game went to the right place and they like it. No hard feelings or blacklists for those who don't, though.
I heard some people blacklist winners to give more chances for other people in their next giveaways, so maybe it's not always to do with thanks or no thanks.

I will always thank the creator when I win a GA. For the most part, I only thank if the creator asks me not to or say nothing if the creator demands to be thanked. That's how I roll.

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My two cents: posting a simple "thanks" in every giveaway you enter is unnecessary and can be quite spammy for the giveaway creator. Personally I prefer to write a reply to any kind of description the giveaway creator cared to leave for the people who enter his/her giveaway. If there is none I just don't comment either. I don't mind the thanks spam" tho. I click the message as read and move on with my life.
What 's making me grumpy is when I gift a game to someone and the person doesn't care to thank me then. Mind you: after winning, not before. I think this should somehow be common sense - the person who actually got a gift should thank the gifter. At least that's how I was raised. I do use the blacklist feature for unthankful winners, but I don't use it in any other case related to thanking.

I'm not super active in the community, but I have given away a fair number of games. So I think I can speak with some experience on this.

In my considered opinion, thanking for creating a giveaway is a waste of time. I never do it, I don't particularly care if I get whitelisted or anything. I do, however, read the descriptive text and occasionally join in a fun activity--like post a song instead of thanks. Or if it's an expensive game, I'll say thanks "for contributing to the community".

I do, however, consider it a necessary -->for myself<-- to say thank you when I win. That's more of a personal thing, borne from my upbringing, and I do not expect others to do so when they win games from my giveaways; although it is pleasant when it happens (which is probably half the time since the site added key delivery, when I had to email keys almost everyone expressed thanks).

That's a lot of personal pronouns, bad form indeed.