Improvement suggestion for SG

Steamgifts +

Filter

There you go.

I will chip in:

Several features that are in SG+ should actually be in the website. I understand the developer is a team member now, but what SG+ does really belongs on the server-side of things. Thinking of it, having Kaitlyn in the team is yet another reason to move features away from the script and to the website itself. I understand the server is busy enough as it is, but javascript is inefficient and not a long-term answer.

It's well-known that the site often struggles and it's also well-known that searches stress databases. My guess is that not too many searches are run on SG, but hey, everything helps. Therefore:

• There is a real-time AJAX search in place, which has no minimum number of characters to start and bypasses the basic "already owned" filter. AJAX is neat and all, but depending on the stress it causes, it could be eliminated without much harm. This also applies to the forums and to Steamtrades.

• When clicking on the banner in a giveaway page thus going to the detail page for the game, a query is performed to count the available giveaways, then another one is performed to show the actual results if the link is clicked. The two actions could be merged. Furthermore, even though games have an ID on SG, the search is name-based, and occasionally broken (A.R.E.S., for example).

• The fact that clicking the banner in a giveaway page leads to the "detail page" for that game here on SG, while clicking it again in that page leads to the detail page on Steam seems an inconsistency to me.

• Speaking of Steamtrades, the search for replies, a crucial feature for the site, is somehow broken. This is probably best explained with an example:

Yesterday I made a thread like:

• [H] 1 TF2 key [W] A certain game

A guy replied:

• I'll give you the game for 2 keys

I replied:

• 2 keys is too much, the game is on sale for less

He replied:

• It's a tradeable gift and I won't go lower

Now his second post doesn't show in my search results, so I would have missed his reply (which obviously could have been positive) if I hadn't checked the thread directly. Replies to replies should definitely show up in the search.

• I think the title structure should be enforced on Steamtrades. People who put the [W] first trick me and annoy me. :)
  I would also like some kind of semi-automatic matchmaking, but that would be a radical change, not an improvement.

• Finally, there is a minor inconsistency in the forums, where the total post count and the "original posts" count differ because one includes deleted posts and the other doesn't. This is really just a cosmetic, very low priority issue.

SteamTrades, I would really love to see all my open threads without using the search engine every single time OR when a person doesn't reply I have to search my thread.

It's a part of steamgifts+ already but I agreee it should be handled server-side. Filtering on the client side is very inneficient since it still requires the server to waste bandwidth by sending a whole bunch of unnecessary data that eventually won't be seen anyway. The extra load put on the database would probably be a lot less that the resources saved by this.

Plus, SG+ has to be installed on every single computer and filtering has to be done manually on each one of them separately, and that's when you actually CAN install it.

cg should hire Kaitlyn (full-time). She did a great work with that browser extension.

It would be nice to see everything from the steamgifts plus addon implemented into the real site

It's pretty crazy to still see these threads.