Ladies and Gentleman

Where was that... ah yes, here, enjoy!

Did you know that we posted touhou swing under every single one of our recruitments?

Touhou Recruitment!

Also known as "we're looking for new friendly folks who would like to join us in our group activity, especially talking about Steam games we don't play, SG rants where we're constantly calling out, and public giveaway events we're about to organize. Now is your chance to join the biggest SteamGifts mafia that has ever existed!".

What is Touhou Giveaways?

The proper question should be: "what ISN'T Touhou Giveaways?!" :3

The Touhou Giveaways group was founded by Archi on February 18th 2015. We're a small, ratio-based SteamGifts-oriented giveaway group, sharing the spirit of giving away and winning games. You might already recognize us from awesome events that we organize from time to time, or from our deadly ArchiBoT that is keeping everybody in shape.

The biggest difference between Touhou Giveaways and other SG groups is its lovely community and our dedication to make things better. We have implemented many unique features into the simple concept of a private giveaway group, and today we are probably the most "technologically advanced" group that exists on SG. We have our own chat, our own bot, website, userscript, daily gaming sessions, chat giveaways, chat games, touhou radio, SG events and a friendly community that is always happy to help, be it with organizing events, playing or helping other members in dire need. We care, and we hope that you'll care, too.

All group giveaways are tracked by our bot, which automatically handles everything - adding new giveaways to the database, assigning points, calculating ratio, detecting current/finished giveaways, preparing statistics, and much more. Our group is fully automated, and thanks to that, our members can focus on having fun participating in the community activities instead of wasting time keeping track of all of that themselves. On top of that we added all sort of extra things - Steam notifications, website achievements related to our activity, chat giveaways and much more. This way everybody is happy to create giveaways the same way as public or invite-only ones, and ArchiBoT does everything else. We even created our own userscript which enhances further SG experience, because we value THAT much our small community.

To make the precious data gathered by the bot available for the members, we also coded our very own Touhou Giveaways website, which acts as a "frontend" to the data gathered by the bot. Members can check their stats, ongoing giveaways, points and many other useful information we provide in a nice, fancy and modern way. Using a website is entirely optional, as you don't need it for any particular activity - it's for you to make your life easier. There is even a shop where you can spend your precious touhou coins (awarded for winning giveaways and getting achievements) on #swag. Capitalism, ho!

We're always actively working on improving our group even further. Many things are being added and improved with time. It's not possible to list them all, as we're constantly bringing up new ideas how to further enhance our group and ensure that it's the best possible SG group experience that can ever happen to a SG user. Everybody has a say in here, if there is a rule we don't like, then we're getting rid of it and adding one that is supposed to be better. If there is ongoing conflict or issue with something specific, we're working together on solving it in a calm atmosphere. If there is any idea raised by somebody that could improve the group, we're doing everything we can to make it happen. This resulted in many positive changes through the years, for example rewarding people creating giveaways for games which are highly-wishlisted by the entire group, or offering giveaway creators optional custom rules that would ensure from winners to play their games. And the best part? You have a choice in all of that. Our objective is to ensure that rules are fair, not decide on which conditions you should make your giveaways, as some other groups are doing.

Group goals

Touhou Giveaways is not the typical giveaway group that can be found on SG - we're more like our own small community of people that like spending time with each other, be it by chatting, playing or discussing SG rants discussions. We actively focus on the community aspect of the group - everybody knows each other, we chat together, play together and participate in giveaways together. If you treat SG groups as a source of games only, or you are what I like to call - "anonymous gifters", most likely this group is not for you. However, if you're looking for a new place to hang out, with a bunch of friendly people unified by the spirit of Steam and SteamGifts giveaways, then this is exactly the group you're looking for.

The actual group rules might seem complicated at first, but in reality they were carefully designed and improved over all those years to be as perfect and as liberal as possible. There are no hidden unwritten "gotcha" rules that you're supposed to follow. Everything that you're expected to do is available to you before applying, and this is why our rules are rather longer than usual.

Our rules include things such as the opportunity to stay active in the group simply by giving away free (in terms of Touhou value) games, applying custom rules to your giveaways (e.g. ensuring winners will play it), and the flexible point system which allows you to modify value of your giveaway as you see fit while it's running. Every rule has practical purpose, and if you're confused about any of them or have further questions, just let us know and we'll be very happy to answer.

I highly recommend joining us on the chat if you want to get more info, ask a question, or simply talk with us. Doing so will greatly increase your chances of joining, while at the same time allowing you a chance to find out if you like our companionship or not. We don't force any members or candidates to stay in our chat for the entire time, but no interaction with group members apart from through SG is rather discouraged and decreases your overall membership potential. We value you as a person and how much happiness you can bring by your presence - we do not judge you based on SG ratio, number of giveaways, level, religion, sexual preference, wealth or other entirely irrational factors. In fact, we're up for inviting people we can have a nice chat and fun with, rather than L10 "generous gifters" that consider themselves elite above everybody else. Touhou Giveaways is about having a nice community, we have enough of toxic people on SG as it is.

The chat is always open for everybody, not only members and people interested in joining but also to lurkers, eternal guests and those who simply like our companionship. Don't be afraid of joining if you'd like to, regardless of your interest in joining the group or not - everybody is welcome, and it's a great place to make some new friends. Why not give it a try? It's free!

Members expectations

We're looking for members who:

• Fulfill all of our requirements (rules), which can be found on the website. Nearly all of them are affecting you the moment you get accepted, but it's important to know what you can expect before you decide to apply.
• Like our group concept, especially community-focus. If you'd like to meet some new friends while having great fun winning giveaways, this group might be just for you.
• Enjoy winning and giving away games with a nice, small group of friends. CV is not everything, and if you're seeing a group as a pure source of games exchange, this group is not necessarily for that purpose.
• Being active in our Touhou group chat will be a great plus - this is the primary way of group interaction, and it's greatly appreciated if we can see that you care enough to join us on usual basis and tell us more about yourself.
• Being "recognized" in SG discussions or on SG Discord server will be a plus, as it's a direct sign that you care about the community; however, this is definitely not a pre-requirement. Everybody starts clean.
• Having a good ratio on SG will be a small plus, as it tells us you're not here for giveaways only. However, this is not even a secondary factor - just giving back every once in a while is enough.
• A recommendation from our members will be a plus. After applications phase, our members will be able to vote on candidates they'd like to see in, organized on our website.

Please note that those are only "guidelines" for who we're looking for, you don't need to fill all of them, as the only "real" requirement is having 2+ level on steamgifts, but due to the fact that there is always a massive amount of people applying, the more you fit our concept of a member, the greater the chance of you making it in. It's important to note that our group is not really "weebs-exclusive" and you don't need to have any interest or knowledge about Touhou at all to be eligible for joining - it's you as a person that matters, and if you like our companionship. In fact, I'd even appreciate normal people for a change, since it's hard to keep up with all of those weebs by myself :3. We're here to have a great time together, not create an elitist circlejerk of people who fits a given set of requirements.

If you consider yourself a good addition, do not wait anymore and try your luck, as the next recruitment will be handed out not sooner than in 3 months from now. Tell us why you would like to join the group, and why you consider yourself as a good candidate. We accept applications in this thread, which doesn't have to be super-long or CV-like, but saying a few words about yourself is greatly appreciated. The more effort you put into this, the greater the chance you'll make it in, and this is why you're here in the first place, so make it count!

After the deadline, all applications that meet the initial requirements (rules) will be reviewed by our staff - candidates who get most points in our private staff voting will get an invite to the marvelous world of Gensokyo, together with a personal introduction done by one of our staff members. We will slowly introduce you into our community and teach you everything you need to know to have a fun time not only on SG, but on Steam as well.

This is not a speed-run - we choose new recruits after the deadline, so it's very common to see over 30+ people applying for 10 slots that we prepared in the group. That's pretty normal, so don't be afraid of posting, we're looking for quality, not quantity - show us your best!

If you're still confused, or you'd like to take a deeper look into how all of that works, please take a look at our last recruitment. You can also read our introduction for new and interested members, which explains the group further as well as various other details, although if you make it in, you'll get more familiar with how things work so don't get the impression that it's going to be hard just because of this wall of text - I can assure you that it's not, the rules and expectations are rather sane and easy, it's just the fact that we prefer to state clearly what we expect rather than having 3x as much unwritten rules that you're supposed to guess yourself.

If you have some additional questions, it would be the best if you joined our chat and asked - somebody for sure will be happy to answer, and explain thoroughly any particular detail you're interested in. You can also ask in the thread if you'd like to.

Or maybe you know some of our members already? Why not ask them about their thoughts on the group? :3

Useful links

Website | Members | Rules | Introduction | Steam chat | Steam group | SG stats

This recruitment

Currently we're looking for up to 10 new members.

As usual we've prepared a giveaway that is open for everybody, even two this time!

We're accepting applications until the giveaways above end. If you meet our initial group requirements, you'll be listed as valid candidate (linked to your application) below. Being a candidate does not guarantee getting invited, that's also why there is no limit of candidates. Feel free to check previous recruitment linked above if you'd like to see how it works in detail.

After the deadline, we'll organize the inner group voting. Firstly there is going to be members voting on our website, that will run for about 2 days. Then the next one is staff voting, which should also run for about 2 days. Those two together should not take longer than a week after the end of the applications phase. When the staff voting ends, all results will be announced, together with the list of people who made it in. If you were chosen, you can expect a friend invite on Steam from one of our staff members soon afterwards.

If you decide to apply, please state it clearly so we won't have any doubts if you're interested in joining or just casually posting - we can't read your mind yet. If you miss being considered as a candidate due to non-obvious comment, you'll be the only one to blame :3. The thread is open for everybody and everything related to our group, especially applications, questions and issues (if any).

Good luck and we hope to see you soon on our Touhou Giveaways chat!

Candidates

In chronological order, updated periodically.

• EpicKK
• Purpur3141
• adam1224
• LelouchLamperUn
• dixia
• cece09
• Ruhenot
• karm2002
• Arcsurvivor
• RobbyRatpoison
• i2apier

Results

This time we've decided to invite all interested candidates, due to their amount compared to the slots we've prepared and overall satisfying results. Congratulations!

EpicKK
Purpur3141
adam1224
LelouchLamperUn
dixia
cece09
Ruhenot
karm2002
Arcsurvivor
RobbyRatpoison
i2apier

Our staff will contact with lucky candidates and proceed with the introduction. You can track this process live on our mantis. Thank you very much for your interest, and see you again during the next recruitment/event! :3

View attached image.