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.

View attached image.
9 years ago*

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bump

8 years ago
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Thanks for this post, it's good to know things like that.

8 years ago
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This deserves another bump. I've left all groups that I realize are associated with him at the present time, and I'll be doing a check of all my steam groups this weekend to further purge them of his duckish taint.

8 years ago
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This deserves another bump, as they were just using a key giveaway to advertise their G2A referral link. I didn't realize they could sink any lower.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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8 years ago
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free keys are free keys (I have 90 friends):

Original Traders Group 44 friends in this group
Original Curators Group 47 friends in this group
Original Giveaway Group 48 friends in this group
German Giveaway Community 40 friends in this group

:D

8 years ago
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from my 40 friends are 10-12 in those groups
still too many..

8 years ago
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It's not weird, when he has got ~100k minions, which are giving him power in exchange for bad indie games with cards D:

It's sad.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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8 years ago
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and another gleam.io drop with his groups... ugh

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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8 years ago
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I've told all the indie developers I know /work with to avoid this scumbag.

8 years ago
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They're still goin' for it.

8 years ago
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I'm wondering atm
He might not be the only one doing things like that
Does anyone know about other Groups/Admins of this Type?

8 years ago
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bump

8 years ago
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This needs a bump

8 years ago
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you are in:

Original Traders Group
Original Curators Group
Original Giveaway Group
Duck Society

:D

8 years ago
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lol too good

8 years ago
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Talk about throwing someone under the bus! xD

8 years ago
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I'm too lazy to leave them

8 years ago
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You just typed more than click's that would take to leave them xD

8 years ago
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Well then I would have to rejoin again every time they do another gib

8 years ago
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or... you just skip those shady gibs?

8 years ago
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Well I farm 10-15 keys from them every few days

8 years ago
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some even sell their soul for a +1...

8 years ago
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You should grab that auto-Gleam addon. It "solves" everything then leaves every groups.

8 years ago
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I thought you get banned from that?

8 years ago
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You do? For using the addon or for leaving the Steam groups?
I've been using it for a few days without issue, but I'd like to know more about this if there's a risk.

8 years ago
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Thanks, I removed the script and won't use it anymore.

8 years ago
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You get banned for that , and it didnt work for me when i had proxies on

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Anyone notice the increased prevalence of Salz's partnerships? Free games can turn even the previously most honorable of individuals.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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The latest gleam giveaway posted clearly shows Salz is partnering with the 12 year old owner of REX, Daniël Bink, another "network" of a dozen pointless groups.

Also Salz is moderator in a reputable group CardGifts from http://steamcardgifts.com and is posting more gleam spam on their group too.

It's really sad and somewhat sickening.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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I dunno about you but I find that tremor game referral link far worse :x

8 years ago
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hahahhahha , daniel is 12 years old?

8 years ago
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It doesn't surprise me someone as vapid as you, to partner with SalzStange, wouldn't be able to discern a teenager on the internet. You, Salz, and Daniël -- a triad of societal aberrants just pushing buttons and clicking links until they get as many shitty indie games on their account as possible.

P.S. Stop trying to add Steam Community Mods to help you with your Steam Support ticket n00b.

8 years ago
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Well, I guess this is amusing... http://i.imgur.com/lIaohxR.png

8 years ago
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Was that a giveaway here on Steamgifts or in their group?

8 years ago
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Looks like in the group announcements/discussions.

8 years ago
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Yep, in their group.

8 years ago
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the new graph shows clearly that pushing this thread increased the number of ppl having me on their blacklist :3

8 years ago
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No worries, those are not the people you want games from :P

8 years ago*
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salzstange = bad
käsestange = good

8 years ago
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salzkäse = mixed ?

[SGTools] Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen,Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition,The Banner Saga 2,No One But You,Barbie Dreamhouse Party Detailed information and GA requirements...
. .
8 years ago
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i think this thread needs another bump

8 years ago
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bump

8 years ago
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Ah.. Kinda lil bit explain why i saw same winner name on each giveaway :D
Nasty...

8 years ago
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He's still doing his stupid gleam.io giveaways

8 years ago
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This thread definitely needs a bump!!

While doing my threads about various gleam.io giveaways.. I noticed a new group. I always scroll down to see who the admin is, and to my surprise it was our very own Duck!

Gladius Giveaways ..new group. I guess he wants to look clean without the reputation (with ppl that at least don't recognize his name and avatar).

8 years ago
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Oh yeah, I was just looking at those. shrug .. It's like they want to take over the world or something.. And freebies (gleam.io giveaways) only gives them way more members >.<

8 years ago
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I should probably update the thread and clean it up abit. Not sure how to do it though.

Also it seems like every group imaginable now is using gleam.io to giveaway a few games, which results in hundreds of thousands more members, which they then use to get more free keys from devs, which they giveaway for even more members, and the cycle just keeps repeating itself. And they do it shamelessly. The only thing we don't really see is the emails/messages to devs.

8 years ago
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Yeah... It's really sad in my opinion.. >.<

8 years ago
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I'm think from now on I'm going to bump this thread every time I see someone post one of their spam gleam.io giveaways.

8 years ago
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Whatever you did, you're now removed from my blacklist.
Do you had a administrator or moderator role in one of the sites associated with the Original Network?

8 years ago
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Thanks for the deblacklist, whatever it was for lol xD

I used to be an admin prior to the shitstorm but still around to witness the countless nefarious acts of Salz and was one of the several staff that left and started letting everyone know about this bullshit. Skill and myself along with the help of Nokkenbuer were the main movers making sure Salz was banned at SteamCompanion -- sadly cg didn't feel the same way and did nothing to him here on SteamGifts so this thread is the last bastion of reminding people.

8 years ago
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Well, he is not breaking any rules here, so cg's point can be understood. "Being a fucktard" is not on the list of offences in the site rules. On the other hand, when he grows up, he is bound to be a successful politician or high-level manager. Lack of morals can do wonders in both jobs.

8 years ago
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I'm not going to argue about the parallels of extorting keys and the rules being broken because it's just wasted keypresses at this point. One of the several larger reasons Nick banned him was because he was using SG/SC giveaways as bait to enter his Steam comment giveaways [which were rigged].

But it's funny you say "grows up" because he's already in his mid-30s.

8 years ago
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Really? His behaviour pattern was closer to someone around 20.

8 years ago
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I didn't really do anything to get him banned from SteamCompanion. I was not even a mod there then lol XD.

It was the current teams decision. But you know Salz. He thinks it was all me ;)

8 years ago
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I was speaking more in our aid to Nokkenbuer when he was accumulating evidence. You did provide logs and screenshots, as did I.

8 years ago
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Now that you reminded me I was the one that gathered and tracked down everybody needed to provide the evidence and yeah I provided some of my own stuff tho XD

Maybe we should have a reunion soon? ^^

8 years ago
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And me :(

8 years ago
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And you what? Helped compile the scribd doc that categorized and detailed all the evidence?

8 years ago
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I helped add material. Yes.

8 years ago
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Ahh, lots of people helped add evidence to the shebang but without a doubt Skill and I, former admins in the group and the main reason why the group even exists considering we built the userbase, were the driving forces behind it (with Nokkenbuer doing the secretarial work). I appreciate any input you had as well but only [former] staff was truly privy to the behind-the-scenes rigging of giveaways, racism and countless other horrible practices of Salz.

8 years ago
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This thread kinda remind me of Amy's Baking Company
I mean they're calling other people with trolls and haters too xD

8 years ago
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+1 lol

8 years ago
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Closed 6 years ago by Khalaq.