Alternative calculation of Contributor Level

Do NOT count private GAs toward Contributor Level

I assume these represent invite only? Then what's the point of making trains and puzzles then?

I am not sure what the word train means in this context. On puzzles I have heard of encrypting a key where a puzzle has to be solved to decrypt it, but I hadn't heard of a way to encrypt/decrypt invites to a private GA, I thought a private/invite GA used a pre determined list of friends similar to whitelist.

Not very realistic IMO, or fair. If you want an example, consider the giveaway I made here:
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/V1eIY/one-final-breath
One copy of One Final Breath, but with an extremely obvious link to a 9 copy giveaway of the same game. Just like trains posted in the forum, the invite-only giveaway is for most intents and purposes effectively public.

I can understand if you've found some users who have seemingly abused small groups to farm their way up the CV levels but it's a pretty limited problem, and one that can be partially solved through use of your whitelist and blacklist.

No, i don't agree.

no need to complicate the matter.
you can make groups/whitelist GA for your own criteria

This feature was recently added to the sg tools addon (http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/jFlpd/sgtools-future-new-tool-opinions-suggestions-ideas) It is a poor fit for the main site as CG wants to keep things relitvly simple.

Excuse me, I'm missing something due to languague. If I make a giveaway private (in the forums for example) or in a group is like I never did it? Dont add numbers to my level?

I wouldn't really mind and it would affect me.

I'm level 10 overall.
Public only, I'd be level 6 - almost 7.
Invite only I'd be a 7.
Group only I'd be a 8.

It's not all straightforward though.

All my invite only giveaways bar 1 or 2 were posted in the forum, or for solving puzzles which were themselves posted in the forum. They're not as public as public giveaways, but they were in effect open to anyone who partcipates in the community by reading the forums, they didn't even have to post in them to see them. That makes them different from someone posting invite only giveaways off-site to a small group of friends or different community.

Some of my group giveaways were for the S.Gifts Steam group which is the official unoffical group of Steamgifts that anyone can join, and anyone who visits the forum probably knows about it.There are a number of other non-ratio, open to lots of people kind of groups present on SG that are very different from the smaller, exclusive kind of groups that some folk see at elitist or even manipulative of CV.

Still, I wouldn't mind. If people want to have more options and whatnot then I that's not something I'd strongly rally against. I don't think it would necessarily be subtle enough to do exactly the sort of thing it was being suggested for, and therefore could be considered a bit of a waste of time but it might be a start if that's what peeps want.

section 7 is where you set the required Contributor Level, the three check boxes were to make sure only public GA's were counted toward Contributor Level since public GA's are always legit.
another way of phrasing it would be only count public GA's toward contestant Contributor Level for the purposes of that particular GA.

This voting sound distinctly like those you just come here to win win win win and not give a single thing back! Sorry but why should my private and whitelist giveaways not count?

I am certainly not giving away big name games to some internet person that is 90% of the time not even going to thank me for winning the game. NOT A CHANCE! Those will stay on my whitelist and private giveaways where they belong and where I deserve my CV.

In case you are wondering yes I voted NO!

Oh my god... Every week. Or even every day. New themes about CV. Why do you think you know better? Why do you think your suggesting is better then existing? Stop it. Do something productive. Remember, first rule of CV - don't talk about CV.

my intent was to filter for a higher rate of valid players in an automated way; checking individual profiles is a pain in the ... and something I really don't have time for, hence my desire to automate the process.

You do realize that a lot of scriptees or rule breaking accounts are nestled in the <4 CV level with mostly public giveaways.

Valid for what anyway? No rule breakers? Then raise your giveaway level. You still have to check the profiles if you're doing public giveaways. You don't want to check at all? Then make groups/whitelist/inviteonly giveaways for the people who fit your criteria. You're shooting yourself in the foot. You don't even know how an invite only giveaway works yet assume it's function.

section 7 is where you set the required Contributor Level, the three check boxes were to make sure only public GA's were counted toward Contributor Level since public GA's are always legit.

Why wouldn't be they be legit? More rulebreakers exist in the realm of your giveaways.

System is already broken in regard what you want it to do. Proposed changes won't fix it at all. Example: farm L7 via whitelist, blacklist all 7+ except friends, continue farming with public ga where only WL counts for level. You can of course complicate it further in that direction but it won't work until fundamental flaws are not addressed. Here is recent thread on the subject: http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/Rqm1s/my-case-against-steamgifts-contribution-system/

I think it would be best to just add:

[] Do NOT count GAs toward Contributor Level

HAHA, and that's all,HAHA, cause YOU create mostly PUBLIC ones?
Good extension for YOU?
Another selfish "contributor",huh?
Why am I typing this?!

another tick box for the GA
[] Do NOT allow leeches to enter this giveaway

I've made almost 100 invite only ga's just for the forum... Including. A 50 game train. Please don't penalize me for trying to give back to the forum.

Then the forum would drop down in activity.
Super fall...

And thete would be less, muuuuch less sense of whitelist.
Groups too

No.

Why don't you just suggest this rule: [ ] Do NOT count giveaways for level ____ or above toward Contributor Level.

(Fill in blank with any integer between 0 to 10)

why does new users want to make changes all the time?
I joined when here wasn't CV even implemented yet, those were good days - no ranting or stuff about changing everything

It would be much easier to set the 5 entry limit to a higher number to avoid small groups to abuse the system.
But I guess even that would bother some of the legitimate Users

well, this idea is, mah, there should better be a ratio option to keep leechers away...
like you shouldn't have more than 3 wins than gives