This definitely needs a bump. Please, everyone, avoid the user "SalzStange" and all of the above mentioned groups like the plague! Thank you.
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I wasn't aware of that. Luckily I never invite others to groups. Just left all of them. O.o (silent bump)
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Curious why the Steam Group is still open and he is still on Steam.
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Too many groupies who just want the free keys and don't care about anything else. A very miniature and less deadly version of how drug barons are revered as saints by the common folks because of free moniez.
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Go to Lots-o-Giveaways. It's 6 times the size and no one's an a-hole.
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Hey - what's everyone been up to?
Little tidbit of information - Salz and his lackeys have a habit of downvoting other peoples' reviews because they have some lame vendetta and they are LITERALLY nazis.
/bomb dropped.
lol not really - nothing's a bomb after all of this.
Anyway, bump! :D
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Since i see a lot of salted GAs lately (and nearly entered some before i noticed it) i think this Thread needs another bump.
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Can someone explain me this in shorter words? I've read it all but I still don't get why is there so many ''hate'' at them
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Salz tried to extort free keys from a developer and threatened to amass his army of brainwashed followers to downvote the game if his demands weren't met.
Dev decided to go public with the threats and Salz tried to lie his way out like a politician ("when I said I'd make his game lose rating, I actually meant the exact opposite").
His armies of brainwashed followers started to copy his lies. Flaming ensued. many people left his groups, but now it is as before. He is freely extorting games from devs, his armies of brainwashed followers still praise him for getting free games they never play but have to idle for 30 minutes so they can write the review they are told to.
(When you see a review of a recent indie game with 30-90 minues play time and saying a generic "it is a good game because… it is a good game" it means it was a mandatory review by a Salz groupie and you can freely disregard it and the writer in general, because they never actually played the game even for a minute. This is very apparent because most of them don't even have the brains to at least fake the passed-first-level achievement in.)
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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh now I get it.. Thanks for taking time just for explaning it to me :)
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Salz blacklisted me for referencing this drama in a giveaway he was doing a short time afterward.
So glad. I'd rather be on his blacklist to reduce to zero the chance of winning anything he's extorted than be on anyone else's whitelist.
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That's how you do it? I asked him to blacklist me on his profile once, but he deleted that comment and I still see his GAs. I'll try doing what you said, thanks for heads up.
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I actually think about reverse-blacklist thing but too lazy to open a suggesstion thread. :(
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I'm assuming you're looking for a way to prevent seeing someone else's giveaways etc.
In that case, maybe this script is what you're looking for.
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Oh i didn't see this include giveaways too.
Edit: It doesn't i guess it's just for forums right now.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you ask him something like if he still extorts keys he'll give you the red slash.
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I even got blacklisted by some of his trading card sluts. It's a shame when I see many people that are considered good folks on Steamgifts that have him in their friendslist. I just don't get it. He's utter scum.
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Thanks for exposing this, I never knew. I left all groups affiliated with him.
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Finding more and more groups that ducky is an admin for, and many of the recent gleam.io key drops include these groups. REALLY not sure how I feel about this revelation.
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After reading about this dev key extortion and flagrant BS I've sworn off any gleam.io key drops that include any of these groups.
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You have all probably seen this group "network" at some point. They send out invites to everyone. They giveaway bundle games here in mass quantities as part of their recruitment. They also advertise giving away AAA titles to whoever invites the most people to their groups. Sadly those giveaways are rigged, as they are not done on SteamGifts, but rather in his group's forum, and no winners are chosen truly at random as the system here allows.
But that's not what I'm here to tell you about.
First, let me show you exactly what I am talking about, in case you are unfamiliar with the OTG Network.
Original Traders Group
Original Curators Group
Original Giveaway Group
German Giveaway Community
Original Society Club
Duck Society
The above 6 groups are what's known as the 'Original Network'. It originally started as just the top group. It's recently expanded unnecessarily into the other groups. You can do everything the 4 groups do with one group, after all. The groups are also all populated by the same people, so don't let the numbers fool you. The Original Society Club is for the most loyal of his followers, where he supposedly does non-bundle game giveaways. Duck Society is...I don't even.
They are all run by a lovely fellow named SalzStange. His username here on SteamGifts is AngryErpel.
Confirmed with SteamGifts Support that this is not calling out..
SalzStange was recently outted on Twitter for trying to blackmail a developer for a free Steam Key. This kind of activity has been known to occur in this "network" but was covered up by his loyalists. When things like this happened in the past, or someone wrote a negative review for a game SalzStange obtained keys for, he would ask his loyalists to downrate the hell out of the review, which they sadly did. According to other 'victims', his loyalists were also asked to harass people that did not agree with SalzStange's methods or people who called him out on his bullshit. It's safe to say some are blindly following him in the hopes of free games. This is, of course, unacceptable, and since this was brought public, some of his loyalists left the group. Namely a few (most) of his admins and even a co-founder. He now has a new set of followers and Admins/Mods, and they are still up to the same routine.
SalzStange thinks giving away games is charity, and refers to his groups as "the biggest charity groups on Steam".
Charity is helping people who are less fortunate (IE Homeless, starving, etc), donating clothes and food to homeless people, or volunteering at a shelter....things of that nature. Not giving away games to privileged people on SteamGifts. He lists hundreds of giveaways for bundle games and games he's received from devs here on SteamGifts. The bundle games he asks members to donate to him so he can give them away here or in his group's chat (this has been confirmed by many former members). Either way, he is unfairly benefiting from contributor value here on SteamGifts because of this. He is currently a LV 9 contributor here on SteamGifts.
There is a reddit thread where a lot of people have come forward to share their experiences with SalzStange and his groups. and there is also a NEOGAF thread.
Proof, evidence, chatlogs, examples of his behavior and other things.
Take a look at these and find out for yourself what kind of person SalzStange is. Don't listen to his long-winded excuses or lies he's posted here and elsewhere.
2706 line OTG Group Chat Log
Full email conversation - This is the 'unedited' screenshot SalzStange provided that he claims absolves him of all accusations. It, in fact, makes him look worse.
My experience with SalzStange and his group
Chat harassment
SalzStange's SteamRep Report
SalzStange's "apology" to the dev he blackmailed
SalzStange thinks there's no proof
Valve is at least aware of this situation
SalzStange thinks those "against" him are all trolls
SalzStange denies allegations concerning his rigged giveaways, which were already confirmed as true
SalzStange's official statement after he was caught
Former Mod's response to his 'official statement'
SalzStange's post history on the Steam forums. A great example of his attitude and how he talks to developers
OTG Head Admin is okay with SalzStange's actions.
SalzStange has been permanently banned from SteamCompanion.
SalzStange calls those who caught him and spread awareness of his lies 'troll' and 'haters'..
SteamCompanion Group Chatlog where SalzStange was invited to discuss his ban
If you are still a part of this "network" I advise you all to leave to avoid being dragged down with him. It will happen eventually. WGN got shut down for doing less than this.
If you would like to combat this network and it's practices, there are a number of things you can do.
If you are a member of any of their groups, or any of the groups that SalzStange associates with (Such as Hookups where he is an Admin), simply leave them. You can also share this thread with people on your friendslists who are members of these groups and advise them to leave as well.
TL;DR:
SalzStange threatened a dev, got caught, and is still trying to lie and cover up the facts, acting like he did nothing wrong.
He claims to be an adult, but is refusing to own up to his actions. Everything we do in life has consequences. It's time he faces them.
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