I honestly dont like SGTools, but only because its helping make the site more elitist and segregated. But thats just my opinion, I see the benefit of it, I just dont agree with the way its used a good portion of the time.
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Doesn't it kinda encourage people to have a good ratio and not break any rules? How does that make the site more elitist?
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Because it's steamgifts, not steamratio, or steamtradeshittybundlegamestohopefullywinatripleagame. When I first joined this site, ratio was almost never discussed. The biggest issue concerning the community was how many comments you had posted. People were only concerned you were contributing to the community. Not neccesarily giving. As time went on, it started to progress to ratio discussions, and Ive always thought it was disgusting. If you only want to give games to people who also give games, join a private trading group. If you want to genuinely give games away, it shouldnt matter to you who wins them. Of course thats just my opinion and an unpopular one here to boot.
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+1. And while we are at it, down with Blacklists too! :D :D :D
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I used it once with those restrictions as well, like I said I understand the benefit of it. However on reflection I stopped using it. Generally speaking, those people who have multi wins, or nonactivated wins have already been punished by the site. Should I continue to exclude someone after they've been reprimanded? I dont think so. When someone gets out of jail they shouldnt continue to be treated like a criminal, unfortunately same as here, thats often not the case, but I dont feel that either of those situations is right.
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If you only want to give games to people who also give games, join a private trading group.
If you want to genuinely give games away, it shouldnt matter to you who wins them.
I totally agree with that. However, I think we need to distinguish between sgtools for checking the rules and
sgtools for "protecting" a giveaway. The latter tends to make the site more elitist (as you said already) and is
annoying as hell, if you like to keep your Steam-profile friends-only like I do. For checking the rules, I still think
it's okay, but not ideal. It tends to produce false positives and, as you said, it may lead to punishing
folks who already got punished. However, we can't deny that there are regifters and rulebreakers on this
site. So if nobody ever did even a quick check they'd just be encouraged to go on. I would prefer, if there was
something better than sgtools for the problem though, something that worked out of the box directly in SG,
like unactivated games being listed on the SG profile of a user when they synchronize their account with Steam.
It wouldn't work for DLCs or some games that tend to produce false positives, but it'd be better than nothing.
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The word "leech" has really begun to bug the shit out of me lately, so I'm with you on the ratio thing. It seems some people have lost sight of what gifting is about.
My other beef with SGTools is that it does absolutely nothing to clean up the rule-breakers on SG. All it does is prevent people from entering particular giveaways -- no one gets reported, and they go on to sell/trade the game they win from the next guy anyway. All SGTools does is fuck over the next guy. That's why I refuse to use it. People claim they want to "clean up SG" and do away with the rule-breakers? Then stop avoiding them with SGTools.
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Rule breaking checks should be part of SG. Leaving it to users and SGTools hurts the site, IMO.
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Except that SGTools giveaways don't check for rule-breaking, so it's only users who check.
I'm not debating your point, just saying that SGT giveaways are completely useless in that regard.
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In what sense don't they check? People can't enter a giveaway if certain rules aren't met.
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People can't enter a giveaway if certain rules aren't met.
Exactly, they can't enter, but that's all. They never get reported by that giveaway creator for any rule-breaking because the GA creator never sees the rule-breakers. SGTools only protects giveaway creators who use it. It's a tool of avoidance, from both the perspective of the creator and the rule-breaker (who can just avoid SGT giveaways).
It's the people not using SGTools who are doing the real work cleaning up SG, by reporting rule-breakers when they win their giveaways.
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So basically SGTools does check, it just doesn't report. Glad we clarified the semantic argument and agree on everything. :)
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I agree with you, that's an issue that the use of SG tools being so widespread kinda causes, and I do agere also that the word leech, or SG's favourite leecher gets thrown around a whole lot, many times quite freely and without a second thought and it kinda alienates a good portion of the community, IMHO.
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+1
It's not helping, it's avoiding the problem. I'm not completely proud of it, but I got at least over a dozen of people suspended from SG due to requesting new winners (probably more, I just don't want to actually count).
On the other hand, I understand why SGT was created. If people were getting suspended more often, as in - user reports would actually be dealt with, and not being ignored, people would not seek for extra tools to complicate their giveaways. It's easier to put GA behind SGT, and avoid the problem rather than checking every winner of your every giveaway, reporting him, and potentially wasting both your time and support time, if user was suspended already.
I don't make public giveaway that often, so it doesn't bother me that much. But I do understand people making huge trains and events, because I wouldn't want to check ~300 winners myself either. Hell, after deeper thought I'd say that I'm doing the same, just in other way - I'm avoiding the problem by making group/WL giveaways mostly. So if you look at it from this perspective, SGT potentially creates opportunity for some people to win giveaways they'd not have access to in other case. This is very small minority though, and people tend to overuse options for one reason or another.
Still, if people followed the rules, or were punished enough, nobody would need SGT - even KnSYS told me that he wouldn't make it in this case. SGT is like a partial product created because of actual situation, same as ASF is partial product that happened because of Steam Cards and IM "poorness".
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+1. Didn't whitelist you, because I don't whitelist or blacklist. And anyway, my criteria for who's a worthy winner are someone who played their wins (which I'd never check) and someone who hasn't won much (and that's why I'm a gifter at Unlucky-7).
IMO the forum became toxic with the introduction of CV. I wanted to say that it's been downhill ever since, but it hasn't. It's been more of the same ever since, and I think it's better now than at some points in the past. Still, as long as there's CV it will always be "Steam Random Trades" rather than "Steam Gifts".
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Yeah, the CV system is flawed since its inception, IMO there would be less rulebreakers and less "toxicity" as I think I can surely guess that a significant amount of rule transgressions occur due to regifts (which there would be no reason to, if CV wasn't a thing) and contribution farming.
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Too true. While the forum giveaways are a lot of fun when it comes to honest human contact we would be better without them as they just lead to balkanisation and first and second rate citizens (through SGTools, etc.).
I like the forums here though and there are some really nice people here. But as soon as you reach a certain critical mass it becomes impossible to have a real civil conversation on the internet without some people ruining it for the rest. It's a shame but it's how it is; I've never seen an exception to this rule.
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I completely agree with that, in fact I touched a similar topic in one of my threads. There's a lot of elitism masked as generosity.
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+1, never used sgtools to create giveaways and never will. Also whitelisted.
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Just to give you an example: I am often left out of SGtools giveaways because my (region-restricted)/(public giveaway) ratio is too low.
The effect? It discourages me from giving region-restricted gifts. For example, what should I do when the Steam Summer sale comes? Not give anything, of course, otherwise my "ratio" goes down, since everything I buy from Steam is region-restricted (not my choice, of course, but so it is). :( :( :( :(
(Note: I do not mind if I get rejected because of my level, or if someone makes a giveaway only for people who gave more than me, or even if someone makes a rule based on how many non-region restricted giveaways I have done in absolute values... But the ratio thing really bothers me.)
Anyway, I am happy for gifts being given, even if I do not have access to the giveaways... Well, I do feel a bit sad everytime I cannot enter a giveaway because of bad rules like this, but, I am happy for everything else.
Cheers!
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It's not a you thing. I think most people who put up region-restricted sgtols giveaways aren't really attempting to block out your region. It's another problematic region. Which is unfortunate. It's rarely ever targeted at the people in South America, it's just an unfortunate consequence of the fact that we can't pick and choose which regions we want to allow to enter. Trust me I know why that CG probably would never implement something like that.
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It is not a huge deal, really, there are tons of giveaways I can participate in... But every time I see a ratio rule like that, an angel loses his wings. :D
The idea of "I want to pick the region" bothers me a little, but it is not terribly different from group or level giveaways... but the ratio thing really gets to me. The thought that someone who gave 1 public ROW giveaway and nothing else passes the rule, while someone who gave 20 ROW gifts and 50 region-restricted does not go through... yeah, that makes me feel bad for the future of Math. I mean, the future of Men. I mean, Mankind. And Womankind too. :D
But anyway, thank you for your kind answer. I kind of know it is not personal, but it is good to hear other people say it. :)
Cheers! Keep laughing, man! :D :D :D
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I think it's bad for the future of Mathkind. I've run into similar problems as the few non-bundled GAs I've done so far have been for the Unlucky7 group and that kind of trashes my public ratio as well. I will say that at the very least I kind of like the CV system just because I'm a whore for statistics and I like watching the pretty numbers go up (it's going to be a sad, sad day if/when I reach level 10 and I can't watch my level increase anymore).
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human nature I'm afraid. any tool that can be useful will also inevitably be misused
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i agree. it's a great tool, but what i personally don't like about it is, that many check no multiple wins, no unactivated gifts and no VAC bans every time. they don't take into account that VAC bans might have been false positives (yes, this happens). they don't care if a VAC ban is 5 years old. or someone has a multiple win in his first weeks or months here, and didn't break any rules since then. SGTools makes it easy to exclude people. and i find it sad to see how often it is used in a way i personally dislike.
on the other hand - well, it's just a great tool. you can do cool stuff like giving people who didn't win much a nice chance. i think overall it's good that it exists. i just wish people would use it more reasonable.
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Yeah, the "a tiger can never change its stripes" mentality is quite prevalent here in the forums. I am lucky because I tend to read the rules of a site before engaging, but I have to admit that when I first came here I came with the mentality of "Hey, free games, amirite?" it was only after interacting with the community when I started giving away stuff and reciprocating what I got.
By filtering the kind of users you were talking about, I think it only raises the barrier of entry to gifting games, I mean, why would I spend my hard earned money to gift games to strangers who leave me out of their giveaways, right? It just alienates a portion of would-be givers by ostracising them.
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i always say i'm the best example. when i was new here - just like you say - i just wanted free games, and i gave away stuff only to raise my CV and get better chances. and i didn't really care too much about the rules. well, i didn't even read them. so i sold a game i won here for tf2 keys. i thought this was alright. it was mine, after all. i won it. ^^ i also had multiple wins of the same game. i honestly don't remember, but i guess i regifted the other copy. that was how i was during the first months on SG. there was no blacklist feature yet, but i would have made it on quite a few lists for sure. people would have screamed "perma-ban!" if i had the audacity to create a thread about this. well, and look at my profile now. i like to think i am a decent member now (more or less ;) ). corrected all my wrongdoings, made a shit ton of giveaways, have a decent ratio. had i done everything i did in the past in the last few months, i would be on a good amount of blacklists for the rest of my (SG-)life. so that's why i always try to tell people that they should not condemn people forever. people change. if you find out that someone did not activate a game in 2014 - so what. no need to blacklist him. what you should think instead is, that he didn't do anything wrong since then.
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Not going to touch on the rule breaking, because reasons. But I'd wager 99% of people only came to this site to get free games. No one googles, how to giveaway free games to strangers. We almost all found this site by searching for free steam games. We were all looking for something for nothing. Dont bother replying with 'well i heard from my friend, and i had 72 copies of barbie i didnt know what to do with' you know damn well you are the exception and not the rule. I know personally, thats exactly how I found this site, and I joined with the intention of NEVER giving back to the community. Had the site then, had all the cliques and judgemental attitudes it does now, thats exactly what wouldve happened too.
I didnt start creating giveaways because of a ratio, or because I wanted my level to go up to get into more gibs, hell when I joined, the average forum giveaway had less than a 100 entries at level 0. I started giving back to the community because I enjoyed the community. There are plenty of good people here still, but so many people that I believe helped define this site, and make it what it was/is are no longer here. Theres a reason for this, well probably several. But the mentality went from wow, youre very generous, thank you, to pfft, you've won 2x more than youve given, you should be ashamed.
But websites change, its users change, and it's ideals change. All we can do is tolerate it, try to change it, or leave. I still enjoy my time here, so for now I tolerate it, because who am I to try and change something that doesnt belong to me.
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I'm pretty OK with it being used to filter out people who don't follow the rules, though.
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Down with the oppression. V for Vendetta! :D
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If you think these forums are horrendous, you probably haven't seen a YouTube video comment section. Or, Steam. Steam's on par with here.
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Never check out the comments on any leafy video or any threads in the black ops 3 forums.
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I wouldn't consider those a real forum, given the limited viewing window, squashed space and lack of considerations for ease of browsing, tagging and quoting.
I've always referred to those as 'comment gutters'. I feel that is far more fitting (:3
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Come on, we all know that both youtube and steam are a nest of retards. It's like trying to play chess with a pidgeon.
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The quality of the forums has declined in the past few years. I stopped using SG as a whole just over a year ago partly because of what the community turned into. I only recently came back for an event and I poke into the forums not so often, to see if there's any decent topics with a good discussion inside. Most of the time there isn't so I look less and less, just like in the past. As for giveaways, I've never been one to enter much, especially not public giveaways or even private ones posted on the forums.
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i browse the forums for fun, to relax, not to debate politics/religion/or overly serious topics or find giveaways.
everyone has a different approach to the forums and it's fine as long as they respect others and the site rules (no trades, no begging, etc).
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That's one of the great things about these forums. There is no standard form or expectation. That can make for some wasteful, spammish threads but it also means people are free to post casually, while also allowing for more serious discussions. So far the forums have avoided falling into the worst social media patterns, and we have just enough considerations to allow longer posts to be viable. The only drawback is that once a real discussion gets going, it can be hard to track who was replying to who, given the way comments are nested.
I'm in the "If it's not broke, don't fix it" camp.
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yes, nesting after X quoted replies is terrible. can't even keep track who's replying to which post.
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+1 tho debating politics/religion and serious topics is fun for me... not on the internet tho people here tend to be a bit too hotheaded
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I don't recall saying that only serious discussions can (or should) take place. I'm not that pedantic. We can discuss about a thousand things, videogames, food, culture, books, movies. It does not have to be shitstormy political threads all day.
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I noticed most of those threads do exist but for some reason most people are not too keen on discussing them.
The "last game" thread usually revolves around someone posting the last game they played and leave, has if that alone was worth reading.
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+1 I don't really care what people post, as long as it is within the rules of the forum and they show respect to others. Although it can be a bit annoying if you see the same threads a couple of time, of that doesn't seem to happen that often here.
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So you shitpost to complain mostly about shitposts? Strange way of dealing with the issue. lol.
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jokes aside, i love the fact the forum here is largely unmoderated. the silly pointless posts are some of my favorites. As for giveaways in the forum, we're our own community inside the community. Basically consider them group giveaways for a larger audience.
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Come on, shitposting is just a means, I think we both know that if I created sensible threads no one would bother, but by shitposting people get engaged and I'm seeing nice conversation threads and exchanges of ideas already in the thread, which was the whole point.
I mean, what I'm doing is clickbait 101.
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you can print a picture and pin it on the wall?
Maybe from google image search
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I think there are at least two separable things to be discussed here: how the forums are set up, and how people use them.
I think the home-brew forum software in use here has some issues that have been solved in standard forum software packages. For instance, the way threads are quickly swallowed up unless they are constantly active (due to there being few sections, no way to sort threads for viewing except by most recent activity, lack of a marker for whether threads have been viewed, and etc.). This leads to some of the spam-like posting you spoke of: if the forum were set up differently there'd be much less incentive to bump. Site design contributes to how people behave.
And that's just one example. Here's another: most forums allow threads to be made sticky. This could serve to significantly decrease the number of inquiries that get repeated ad nauseam because people do not readily spot where their answers have been given.
So those are design issues with how things are set up. On the other hand there are issues of how people behave in discussion and what sorts of topics they start. I have less complaint there. Aside the really contentious threads (and sometimes even in them) I feel like I've seen a lot worse behavior elsewhere than here. I've had several experiences of people being unusually courteous and reasonable on here.
I think, among other things, the fact that we do something other than talk here--that behavior in conversation can directly impinge on your odds of winning games or making trades--provides some incentive for polite and decent behavior that is lacking elsewhere, even in the absence of strict moderation. And given the nature of the site, I don't really expect an emphasis on protracted, content-full discourse.
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What I want is user-only threads i.e. something that requires users to be logged in to see the content. Way too many key drops are taken by bots and people without accounts on the site that don't give thanks for what they take.
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Yup, there's another one. And on other forums this can be set by sections. It would only really take one section being hidden from public view to fix that (although I don't doubt some members are also using bots).
On a related note, it would seem to make sense to have a section specifically for GAs and trains.
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I like your post, so here's a pointess reply in a sea of words on this page.
(+1)
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Thanks! At least it makes me feel less ridiculous for typing all of that.
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All the issues with the forum layout you listed I can agree with, I would add the lack of a competent search enginge also contributes to having the same threads over and over weekly or even daily, answers are not easy to look for, even if you know what you're exactly looking for, so god forbid you forgot how the thread was called, or what specific wording they used.
I'm happy with the politeness of the community as a whole, (maybe not so much with their behaviour) but dozens of threads whose only purpose is to host a giveaway, and are only filled with Thanks/bump comments are not what I expect from a forum.
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I used to administer a small forum. And my solution to your complaint would probably have been to set up a section just for those GA and train threads (just as many forums have a section specifically for "forum games"). People who wanted such threads could find them with ease, and much more easily ensure they'd looked at every single one (so they'd be happier), and people looking for discussing wouldn't find it crowded out by perpetually bumped GA threads. Win-win.
Oddly, there is no section specifically for GAs here (only a puzzles section). So GAs go into the same places as most discussion topics. And also, the default viewing option is to not use the categories at all and see everything dumped in together.
But I do understand the challenge of adding functionality if the admins want to code their own forum software. Some of the features I'm used to having access to are quite complex.
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I don't understand your topics. Why do you just complain on everything? I mean if you want a better experience with forum you should start opening topics with better "quality." Also I don't understand how this disscussion will make any difference. :/
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I don't just complain about everything, what makes you think that? Why is this not a quality topic?
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Because it gives nothing to community. This is just a complain and you want to make your point through drama. But if you think this is somehow a "quality" topic, I don't like your idea of topics at all. This will only cause discomfort. Also I have never seen you do nothing but complain on your topics. You say cursing is a way to express yourself, you say support suspended you because they didn't like your way of express, you say forums are bad because of spam. These are all personal issues. What makes you think reading "your personal opinions" on forum isn't a spam? I would rather read random poems (which was pretty fun) than some person complaining there is not enough curse. If you are not happy with something don't shout its face you are bad. Try to make a change, try to be creative about it. And you can't expect a giveaway site would value comments more than the giveaways. This is just how it works. Expecting something else would be funny and disappointing. You make good comments but your topics are really bad. Somebody said something good above; "If it's not broke, don't fix it"
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First of all thanks for your lenghty answer.
I think it gives to the community, the forums are a mess because they lack basic forum functionality such as categorized threads, a decent search engine, the ability to see other posts by an user and so on and so forth.
I am aware that my topics are bad and, in some cases, inflammatory, but I use them as a means to garner attention to issues the community might have such as, problems with the forum layout, power hungry mods and so on. My previous threads didn't condone cursing, or I wasn't advocating for it I just felt that there's was a double standard when it comes to moderating, which we can all agree it's unhealthy for the community, and the forum is indeed spammy, half of the comments are permutations of "bump" or "thanks" and, don't get me wrong, I post that kind of comments too, but I think they contribute next to nothing.
I'm glad you noticed the tone shift between the OP and my replies to the users, the title and OP is just a way to get people interested in it, I don't know how the saying goes, but "The best way to get an answer in the internet is to post the wrong one". This might be seen as backpedaling inb4 I was just pretending to be retard.jpg but I genuinely think that is the best way to bring attention to a topic.
I agree with you that random poems are good, any kind of creative expression is, I'm okay with that. I'm not that ok with posts devoided of any content whatsoever.
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It's the nature of this kind of site. You can't expect people write every GA topic something meaningful and you can't limit GA topics. But I agree with forum functionality.
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I've seen lots of discussion threads without giveaways that have still managed to create some interesting conversations with many different contributors. in fact I don't recall ever seeing anyone make a complaint about there not being a giveaway (except jokingly)
besides which, what other forums on the internet don't suffer from hatred-spewing intolerance and/or over-moderation to the point that nobody is allowed to say anything constituting an original thought? granted there being an internet community that doesn't cause everyone to lose faith in humanity is probably a sign of the apocalypse (hopefully a non-spoilery one though, as I'll probably wait for the blu-ray release) but at least we get some free games before the world ends
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In this same thread. https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/W8e3b/the-quality-of-this-forum-is-horrendous#CG8me2f
Maybe it's not serious, maybe it's not even a complaint, but it can be easily construed as such.
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You cannot have any serious discussion about anything if you want to win in here. Having an opinion others disagree with, will land you on blacklists faster than you can press F5. It's an inherently immature behaviour and quite bigoted as well.
So yeah, be careful what you talk about in here. Forget about politics, ethical questions or anything to do with rules on this site or sgtools.
Addendum: OMFG LOL. This post has landed me one more blacklist. Thanks idiot for proving my point.
5 additional blacklists since this thread started :D Hope you're reading this OP.
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Or you could not be a self censoring little bitch(generalized statement, not directed at you in particular), and say fuck the haters that blacklist you. I certainly subscribe to that philosophy.
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I guess I'm +1. I don't enter many giveaways so I don't worry too much about getting blacklisted. Which is fortunate because pretty much any time I do post somebody takes offence. If people were simply logical I suspect discussions would be mostly empty...
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I don't self censor. I just don't use this forum for those kinds of discussions. There are much better mediums for that elsewhere. But if I want to get on more blacklists, I can just relink what got me on 6 blacklists in 1-2 days:
https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/7ak2qXV
This is the kind of discussions you can't have in here. Even if it's factual, entirely rational, or just discussing ideas/semantics/definitions. Butthurt +1 > Blacklist. Pathetic.
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"Selling out" I think describes that kind of behavior well. Worrying about losing that personal gain by getting blacklisted.
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Well it kind of defies the entire point of this site, if everyone gets blacklisted, don't you think?
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I doubt there's anything you could say here that would make everyone blacklist you, so a few blacklists here and there is not a big deal. Even konrads was winning games all the way to the end.
But let's take an extreme example for the fun of it. There's a message you really want to write here, but you also know that doing so would cause absolutely everyone on this site to blacklist you. I'd still call it selling out if you choose not to do so.
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But there isn't anything I really want to write here. As this thread has already landed me one blacklist, it's quite obvious that this forum simply isn't mature enough to handle any serious discussion. I have other more suitable forums for things like politics, ethics and hardware for instance.
Besides Selling Out is such a subjective term it's basically useless.
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Complaining about the blacklist is pretty much an invitation to get blacklisted, as it seems to never fail. Still, I do think people worry about getting blacklisted way too much. It shouldn't have any impact on your behavior here on the forum.
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I don't really worry about getting blacklisted. It's just that if people blacklist me, they can still enter and win my GA's and it's not always possible to check if I'm on their blacklist. I mean, if you blacklist me be a (wo)man about it and just don't enter my GA (or quickly un-blacklist me because I'm giving away a game you want).
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You don't even need to say something controversial.
Sarcasm, correcting people or bringing up issues/subjects people don't want to discuss = blacklist.
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Ikr. It's kinda sad how childish some people are :)
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I would say that the whole WL/BL system only contributes to a enormous circlejerk (for those interested in winning games) I personally could not care less if people blacklist me or not, but I think we could assume that many people only give here their nicest, most servile face to appease the "gifters"
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Completely agree. It's like reddit where people abuse the downvote for things they don't agree with.
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Shit my niggah my niggah droppin' dat mixtape on ass slum yo.
Me trying to shitpost...
I need an example of threads that were of high quality from years ago that you rave about? I joined not long ago.
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I need an example of threads that were of high quality from years ago that you rave about?
I don't see what you're replying to- you may want to include a quote. :X
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I was asking if OP can provide threads from years past and have me compare the quality of today's threads with threads from abck then.
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Right, and I'm unsure as to the relevance of that request? As far as I can see, Cast doesn't refer to that subject in any way. Kinda seems like you're asking for something completely random. :X
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check archive.org and read some threads. i did it months ago, went back to the forums/discussions from 2012-2014 and spent 2+ hours.
the amount of hostility and insults was 10 times more than what the forum is today. maybe because there were less mods, or people were allowed to do whatever they wanted, but the forums right now are a haven compared to 2+ years ago.
and yes, the thread with the kid that killed himself was in that timeline. that's says a lot about the "good old times" on sg.
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I am not appealing to ye olde good times, I am just stating my opinion on the current state of the forums.
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I don't know why you're surprised a site based on the premise of gifting games has giveaways in their discussions.
I use steamgifts primarily for the discussions to see new bundles, and to see cool events people made. I also make shitposts for various reasons. I avoid serious discussion on here a lot because it tends to end up badly on the internet. I don't want steamgifts geared on that. Videogames are my escapism from the real world, and this site is my escapism from the assholes of the world, I don't want to bring more drama and serious issues here.
But there are serious discussions that can be had without drama and I've done some of those before, and others have too. They don't every discussion though.
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Wise words TreeB-sama
Quality shitposts are the best :D
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.Videogames are my escapism from the real world, and this site is my escapism from the assholes of the world
Thank you, that's exactly what I would write.
I'm here for gifts, puzzles, events and to lurk into random threads during a break. Yeah, if I wanted a serious discussion about politics, religion or science (often turning into shitstorm) - I have facebook for that.
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I am not surprised there's giveaways in the discussions, I am surprised tho, that the discussions seem to be made of, almost exclusively, giveaways.
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My impressions of the forums is actually fairly positive. With any forum that is large and has a lot of traffic and differing mindsets/opinions, there will be a lot of good and a lot of bad. I tend to focus my attention and effort on the things I'm interested in, and as a result the things I perceive as negative aspects or of which I have no interest tend to not even register on my radar anymore. I do actively search for and engage in thoughtful topics that come up on things I am interested in, and these are sometimes quite pleasant or interesting to peruse.
I think one thing this place has going for it is that it is actually pretty easy to ignore the stuff you don't like with a little self-restraint, and people tend not to let differences of opinion escalate into out-and-out flame fests. There's a general vibe of positivity among those that use the forums most heavily and post in a respectful manner, and those that bring outright hostility or negativity tend not to stick around for very long.
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I think we should all focus on making the forum a better place, one thread at a time. (✿◠‿◠)
And your negativity certainly does not help. (◕︵◕)
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That means that one covert operation is a must do now! The one where we secretly browse other forums, soak up information on how they keep such quality in posts and return here to spread the good news! Sir! I send you! You are the one for this mission! Do not return until you have good quality forum threads to post!
:P
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The idea is good, but puzzle section is a little too much, it destroys the purpose of more elaborate puzzles when you need to realize that there is a puzzle. But the simpler ones definitely should be there
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Yeah, and sorting the threads by last comment on them kinda gears towards the frontpage being flooded with low effort giveaway only topics, wich are not what I expect of a forum.
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This forum is not what it used to be. Anyone that tries to start a discussion gets sent to the bottom of the barrel while giveaway threads stay on the top because the OP said so. If you don't add giveaway into your thread's title, it's most likely dead by the next day.
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I don't see anything wrong with shit-posting it can actually spark a conversation. the conversation doesn't come from the topic it comes from the people. Sometimes people just need to vent or share what's on their minds no matter what it is, or that it's simply just fun to them, or want little red number to show on the mail thing. I do agree that you shouldn't feel that you are owed a GA just because it's a forum post..
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Christ, quit complaining. All I ever see from you is rants about how you hate the Steamgifts community.
Don't like it? Don't use it. As simple as that. I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but you asked my "two cents" and that's just my opinion.
There's way too much ranting on this forum and in my opinion, I don't believe that these rant threads are meaningful or beneficial to the community in any way. I also fail to see what you mean by users being "betrayed" by lack of giveaways in forum posts. I rarely see anyone go around saying "oh, you didn't create a giveaway for the trade, how awful! Shame on you!" Last I remember, the last user to do this was told off by a couple of people. When it happens, it's usually a beggar trying to "shadow beg" without getting banned.
Bottom line is, I think the forum is fine. What I don't understand is why you stick around if you don't like it?
I visited many gaming communities in the past and some I disliked. I didn't post about how I hated it, I just moved on.
Again, no offense intended, just my personal opinion. Live and let live. :)
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Just watch the first minute or so of this video to understand why I complain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKFafPSddGw
I complain because I care, I used to be a rather big part of this community, I felt involved, that's why if there's things done wrong in my opinion I want to share that opinion. If I didn't care, I'd just go, well another nest of retards, and go on with my life.
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Ah, okay. So if I understand correctly, your goal here is the make Steamgifts great again (sorry for the joke, couldn't resist).
You want to "restore" Steamgifts to what it was in the past, because in your opinion (which is different for everyone), Steamgifts was better in the past than it is now.
Now, I don't want to disappoint you by telling you that this sounds like an impossible and a bit unrealistic task, in all honesty. You do realize that what you want to do is change an entire community of thousand, heck, maybe million of users. You're actually expecting the forum to suddenly return to its former "glory" (again, which is your opinion - I think the forum is fine now).
Most forum users from 2-3 years ago left and didn't return, and a new bunch of users took their places. Things change, and while not everyone may agree with these changes, it's not like anyone can do anything about it. Clinging to the past won't bring it back, unfortunately, and attempting to convince others to change their ways for you probably won't do the trick either. I'm not saying you should just give up on things you like when they turn into something you hate, in fact I guess I can respect that. But at one point, we all have to let go.
Now, maybe I misunderstood, maybe changes is not what you want. In that case, the only thing left is that you want to voice your opinion for the heck of telling the forum community how they suck and how it could be better. That's fine too, if you like doing that. If, on the other hand, you don't enjoy doing that, then it all comes down to - and I'll quote myself here - Don't like it? Don't use it.
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I couldnt agree with what you said more. Like I said above, I've watched the changes MrC is talking about, and I dislike some of it as well. I even left for a while not directly because of it, but it was a factor. That being said, I am wise enough to know that I cannot control the flow of a river by standing in the middle of it shouting at it to turn around. Maybe MrC would be happier if he left for a while, completely, not lurking, just gone. Then return 6 months, a year whatever down the road like I did. When I returned the 'system' in place, doesnt seem so blatantly offensive, more just a way it is. Because for me, it wasnt like returning to the old family home, but going to visit family in their new place, with new furniture, new neighbors etc. Im not being a dick when I say that MrC, its genuinely my experience, and a suggestion you might find works for you.
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I occasionally show up here when I simply want to read what's going on and have a discussion on whatever.
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Actually, the first and only forum I still use is this, it's much better than others in my opinion.
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Refer to title.
This forum is very difficult to use as to have a discussion of any sorts. I don't know the exact numbers, but the feeling I get is that around half the messages in here wouldn't get past a spam filter.
Is this bad? Well, not inherently, there's a very lax approach when it comes to what constitutes content here, and it's not that I'm against it, but when people get shunned for creating discussion topics of any sort, or the forum-goers seem to be betrayed when there's no giveaway in the post, it's a bit sad, innit?
I mean, one could argue the purpose of the site is to create/enter Giveaways, and they would be correct, but I ask, isn't that, then, what the Giveaway tab is for? I mean, if trades are confined to Steamtrades, why aren't giveaways uniquely on the giveaways tab? I mean, there's nothing wrong with the Birthday/Cakeday/whatever threads that people want to create, but I think we can agree that they aren't the best grounds for an exchange of opinions.
What's your two cents on this? Do you browse SG's forum for discussion/news/content? or, on the other hand, do you skim it for giveaways? Would you prefer a forum geared towards discussion more, or, is it good as it is?
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