Ever wondered how being vocal about yourself or your opinions affects your whitelist and blacklist count? I know I did, and although I voiced my opinions in some controversial threads (e.g. the ones about US elections), I never set out check this properly. Until today.

In each of the next 5 days I'll post a revealing thing about myself. In the following day I will let you know how many WL and BL I lost/gained, but to minimize bias I won't say in which direction until the experiment ends. To prevent having GAs skew the results, yet to still keep things in good giving order, I'll only post the GAs now, a day before I start posting the "reveals". The numbers in each list before the first reveal will be the baseline, but I'll keep them to myself and only report the increase/decrease. Suffice to say, I have three digit numbers in each list so plenty of room for reduction :-)

Oct 1

GA posting day (all Level 0, no filters) [All Finished]

Oct 2

I am Israeli and Jewish. I also served in the military, as a photographer. I'll dedicate a couple of reveals in coming days to my social and political views and to those I have on religion, but will add a few words here about my views of Israel military. I think a strong army is an unfortunate necessity for my country, and that there are few areas where Israeli military activities could have been significantly different yet still achieve the goal of defending the country. A few points where I object to how things are/were done: Use of administrative detention; use of one-ton bomb or similar for some not-so-targeted targeted killings; reprisal operations during the 50's and 60's. A few points where I think the army has much to pride itself on: Purity of arms ethical code, and specifically the extreme efforts that go into avoiding civilian causalities, with Roof-knocking procedure being a prime example. Another example is the huge investment Israel makes in developing defensive anti-missile missiles of different ranges - Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow - all of which, by definition, reduce civilian causalities (on both sides) compared to the alternatives.
Update: Gained 9 WL, Gained 1 BL.

Oct 3

I am agnostic-atheist. I've yet to encounter anything that would make me believe in God, so I don't. I believe it's impossible to prove that God exists, so I don't frequently spend time thinking or talking about this subject. I'm also not troubled by questions like "Where did the matter and energy in the universe come from?" ...I don't know the answer, and I doubt I'll ever hear a convincing explanation. As far as I'm concerned, God isn't a convincing explanation to such questions. I can at least find answers to some related questions in the theory of evolution, which I find very convincing.
In addition, I'm secular. I do celebrate most Jewish holidays every year, but I don't do it because of what they mean to religious people. I do it because I enjoy many of the traditions, I enjoy being with my extended family, and the holidays give a great framework for this. Similarly when I'm invited by people of other religions or cultures to celebrate their holidays, I seize the opportunity and gladly participate. 
Update: Gained 5 WL, Gained 1 BL.

Oct 4

My political ideology is mostly left wing and social-liberal. I believe the state should ensure that the basic needs of everyone are met, yet still reward people for hard work, enterprise and innovation. With the increase of automation (autonomous trucks anyone?), I believe more and more people won't be able to find a job. The only way I see to go about it would be for the state to ensure basic income to all. As a (currently) working person, I accept this and am willing to pay for it. I already pay about 40% taxes, and although I don't agree with everything my country does with the money, I do think that the amount of taxation is roughly where it needs to be if the country aims to fund (or at least subsidize) important things like universal healthcare, college education and paid parental leave. This is why I don't advocate for reduction of taxes, but do want to see the budget used better.
I always voted for left wing parties. This unfortunately means that my votes have been somewhat wasted most of the years, given the political system in Israel (where opposition/minority parties can work on legislation, but have very limited impact otherwise). I think the current prime minister of Israel (Netanyahu) and the party he belongs to are both bad for the country and that their supporters are blind not to see it. I think Donald Trump is wildly incompetent and is on track to become one of the worst presidents in US history, and that Hillary Clinton would have been perfect for the job.
A few quick points - I believe the state and religion should be separated; abortion should be legal; guns should in most cases only be accessible to the armed forces, not regular citizens; I'm against the death penalty; I'm for immigration, based mostly on merit, not religion or nationality (though I understand and agree to why it had to be different when Israel was founded, a few years after the holocaust). I'm strongly in favor of equal rights and responsibilities to all, but accept that there are some areas where it's not easy to implement (e.g. drafting and arming a citizen who openly opposes the existence of the state is not a good idea). Climate change is real and largely caused by humans.
Update: Gained 5 WL, No change to BL.

Oct 5

As requested (by one user), below are some opinions I have about SteamGifts. Most are not that revelatory, and only one or two are likely to be really controversial.

  • Suspension does not absolve users from unactivated wins. Users should be required to take care of their unactivated wins before being allowed to enter more giveaways.
  • GA creators should be allowed to not deliver a game once every 100 successfully-delivered giveaways of non-free games, for whatever reason, without having to justify it and without it being considered as a fake giveaway.
  • There's nothing immoral, unjust or bad about restricting one's giveaways and excluding users (aka "my giveaway, my rules").
  • Level 0 invite-only is, by far, my favorite type of GA to create. I do sometimes add SGTools filters that reward contributors in ways that are impossible to achieve with levels (e.g. favor other users who create invite-only GAs, or restrict access to those who create only group GAs). When I use such filters, I almost always make the GA accessible to Level 0 users who haven't won anything yet.
  • SGTools is an awesome complementary site to SG. I wish its functionality was integrated into SG.
  • CV and levels are highly overrated.
  • GA creators who use SGTools should not include multiple-win check in their filters, but should check their winners for them manually.
  • There is hardly anything I consider as "drama" on SG, I don't know why people keep using this term.
  • People are too sensitive. Nothing on SG ever came close to making me want to leave the site.
  • The forums are the best part of SG, not the giveaways.
  • I hate the term "leech" and never use it, except when I'm actually discussing the zoological phylum annelids (which I've had an unforgettable encounter with in the Sri Lankan rain-forest Sinharaja).
  • Level 0 users, and especially those who don't use auto-join scripts, are unjustifiably demonized by too many users.
  • The site should start presenting captchas to users whose usage pattern strongly hints that they are using auto-join scripts (instead of suspending them).
  • Bonus opinion about games: Game genres/attributes that almost automatically get games into my Not Interested list on Steam: Anime, RPGMaker, Strategy, RTS, Crafting, Bullet Hell, Shoot'Em Up, Clicker, Dating Sim, Hex Grid, Isometric, MOBA, Massively Multiplayer
    Update: Gained 7 WL, No change to BL (though there was some fluctuation during the day).

Oct 6

I'm a feminist. There’s great inequality to this day between men and women, with men being very frequently oppressive of women. It boggles the mind that so many women say they are “not a feminist”, while experiencing inequality, oppression and the negative sides of male dominance of society. Feminism really needs better marketing, because most arguments of those non-feminist women are quite detached from what feminism actually is (hint: it’s not about hating men).
A few notes about myself. I had women bosses and had zero issue with it. One of them was probably the best boss I had. I find working with women just as easy, if not more, than working with men. People who claim women bring “drama” to the workplace don’t know what they’re talking about, because it’s completely detached from reality. If anything, they're probably projecting their own views on reality.
In general, there's hardly anything that's important to modern living where men have an inherent born advantage over women, or the other way around. The vast majority of non-physical differences are due to how boys and girls are raised. I'm raising my 3-year old daughter to have as much knowledge and as many skills as possible, including skills traditionally associated with boys and men. There's no chance in hell that, when she's older, she won't know how to replace a wheel of a car or drill a hole in the wall. Hopefully I’m not alone in this.
Update: Gained 10 WL, No change to BL.

Summary: Gained 36 WL and 2 BL. I'm pretty sure that I would have been added to more blacklists before the advent of Two-Way Blacklists, or if I didn't include giveaways at the top of this post. The way to tell for sure would be to create a similar thread without giveaways, but it's too late for this now. Maybe in a few months, but I'm running out of opinions that I think are potentially blacklist-worthy. Also, my pretty good ratio may have something to do with the results. If my numbers of wins and created giveaways were reversed, I probably would have been added to more blacklists, and less whitelists. All in all though it seems less "risky" to voice one's opinions than many people think. I hope this experiment encourages more people to not hold back and be more open, and I also hope it doesn't backfire if they do ;-)

Note: I'm not going to participate in an endless debate about each reveal. The information in each should be sufficient for people to decide if they see enough to put me on one of their lists, or if (and I hope that's the typical case) they just see these as opinions that one should be able to make, even if they disagree.

7 years ago*

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Personally, unless they are blatantly breaking the rules, I won't BL anyone. My whitelisting has no rhyme or reason to it - ratio, avatar, winners of my GAs, people I win GAs from, hell sometimes I just feel like throwing some around. I never discuss (and rarely read) about 3 things on the internet - politics, religion and money. Ok, 4 - but everyone knows the Dallas Cowboys suck so that's a given. :-) Good luck on your experiment.

7 years ago
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Hmm, already had you on my WL. I think it was for all your helpful posts I've come across in the past.

I have wondered if opinions affect one's getting on a WL or BL but it seems a silly reason.

7 years ago
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No need to wonder any longer. Pretty much any interaction will inspire people to blacklist or whitelist.

7 years ago
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I think that this is not only due to the opinion, but due to the opinion drawing attention to the user, people looking at that user's profile, and then BL/WL based on ratio.

7 years ago
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Posted the third reveal in the OP (under Oct 4).

For the previous reveal: Gained or Lost 5 WL, Gained or Lost 1 BL. I'll post the exact change (actual direction) when the experiment ends.

7 years ago*
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My predictions are coming true. You can refer to me as Nostradamus if you like ;)

Yes, this is me interfering with your experiment by ever so slightly challenging you to reveal something actually controversial :P

7 years ago
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Day 3 of "That Yirg guy sounds a lot like me. When will he start being controversial?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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I would also be interesting if there was some opinion about games/hardware, stuff that can be polarising on such a forum. Oh, and opinions about SG itself (and its community) tend to garner BL/WL, at least in my experience.

7 years ago
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Ok, thanks for the suggestion. I'll add such a reveal to the OP. Update: Done.

7 years ago*
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so far, I agree with all of your opinions
I am an atheist, that also celebrate religious holiday and I respect all religions, as long as nobody rubs it on my face.
My political views is mostly left wing and social-liberal. I agree with everything you mentioned.

7 years ago
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I believe your third opinion is going to have the biggest effect of all.

I'm also left wing and I agree with all your quick points except I think guns should be accessible to every citizen as long as they are trained to shoot and pass through some medical/background checks, just like acquiring a license to drive requires. Oh, and I'm for death penalty for murder, and maybe also rape (or castration for rape).

And on your second opinion I agree with most of it, and I'm also an atheist, but I don't respect any religion at all.

7 years ago*
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interesting....

why do you consider yourself Jewish when you consider yourself agnostic atheist and secular at the same time too? Or do you consider being Jewish a cultural thing and not a religious one?

no wl/gl change for me so far. You've been whitetlisted a long time ago and have to try a lot harder if you want that BL from me :)

7 years ago
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jews are both an ethnicity and followers of a religion. so you can be either one and still be jewish. jews dont proselytize like chrisitanity and islam so you dont often see non ethnic jews that are religious jews, unless they are marrying into a jewish family.

7 years ago
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mmmm, so the really interesting thing is that apparently the term 'Jewish' triggers the 'believes in a God' button in my head... :)

7 years ago
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Posted the fourth reveal in the OP (under Oct 5).

For the previous reveal: Gained or Lost 5 WL, Did not gain or lose any BL. I'll post the exact change (actual direction) when the experiment ends.

7 years ago
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Nothing changes brother as I can only WL you once but we would have very interesting discussions as I'm a Likoed voter who likes his wine to come straight from the Golan Heights and I believe in a strong military who protects the Land of Israel and Jerusalem. And in swift and hard retaliation when Israel and Jews all over the world are attacked. I believe that guns should be legal for civilians especially those who have served in the military. They should be permitted to carry a concealed weapon to defend themselves and others against radical terrorists.

7 years ago
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Well, at least we agree on the wine ;-)

View attached image.
7 years ago
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7 years ago
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7 years ago
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I still havent found the controversy. Octuber the 4th was good tho. I bet you touched some fibers there.

7 years ago
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Revealing your opinion really does change your WL/BL. If I would've never shared my opinion about my utter hatred of jigidi puzzles, I would be super low BL. Despite this, I stand by that opinion and embrace my dislike on SG.

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7 years ago
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Going over that thread, I don't think what got you the blacklists was your dislike for jigidi puzzles, but more that people viewed it as entitled attitude, coming from someone who very rarely creates giveaways. I'm pretty sure that if your won/created numbers were reversed, you'd hardly get any blacklists for such a thread.

7 years ago
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Game genres/attributes that almost automatically get games into my Not Interested list on Steam: ...RTS

Hey, wanna get into an endless debate about how RTS games are amazing and how wrong you are for not showing interest in them? Age of Empires IV is coming man!

7 years ago
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I don't have much to offer when it comes to a debate, because I've never actually played such a game. I just saw some clips and came to the (possibly hasty) conclusion that they're not for me. I'd be interested to hear a pitch in favor of these games.

7 years ago
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The strategy genre was the first one I dropped when my gaming time grew limited. They're real time eaters.

7 years ago
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You need to step it up. the last one needs to be like 'I suplex puppies'

7 years ago
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then what is the result?
thanks for GA btw

7 years ago
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The results are in the OP, behind spoiler tags. Note however that they only tell how the lists changed after each reveal, but not in which direction (increase/decrease). I'll add the direction of each after the experiment ends, in a couple of days.

7 years ago
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yes i mean that one...
will wait for that :)
good luck with your experiment btw

7 years ago
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There is hardly anything I consider as "drama" on SG, I don't know why people keep using this term.

When people will learn? This is drama:

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7 years ago
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No anime or isometric? That would be definitely worth a BL at least.

7 years ago
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About the SG reveal, there's nothing in there that is shocking, I have the same thoughts about many of them anyway.

7 years ago*
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A few points where I think the army has much to pride itself on: Purity of arms ethical code,

stopped reading here. with hindsight, could have just done so here

I am Israeli and Jewish

7 years ago
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Can't wait day 6 with you admitting being a lizard-man :D

GA creators who use SGTools should not include multiple-win check in their filters, but should check their winners for them manually.

What's the reason only multiple-win checks? Because of your other point of noone should left with unactivated win?

7 years ago
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The recommendation to not use a multi-wins check in filters is not dependent on my preference for more strict site policy regarding unactivated wins. The former is something that any GA creator who uses SGTools can implement in their filters, while the latter is more of a wish that site policy will change.

I explained the rationale behind this recommendation here:

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/HNCBE/a-plea-to-fellow-sgtools-ga-creators-dont-configure-your-rules-to-check-for-multiple-wins

7 years ago
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the reveals are not that shocking. :) Tbh. from your postings at this forum i would have guessed 2 and 3 and I also already knew that you are from Israel. I think it's interesting, that you call yourself Jewish (and not israelic) but also agnostic.

Not sure why somebody should blacklist you because of this ;)

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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Posted the last reveal in the OP (under Oct 6).

For the previous reveal: Gained or Lost 7 WL, Did not gain or lose any BL (though there was some fluctuation during the day). I'll post the exact change tomorrow, when the experiment ends

7 years ago
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My 2 cents: the limit with your experiment is that there isn't really anything controversial in your reveals (well, maybe it's just me but I really don't find anything shocking there). Revealing you're left-wing or feminist isn't quite risky, that's why 99% of Hollywood and other celebrities claim to be so. And that's also why I'd bet your "WL gains or losses" are gains 👀 But we'll see when the experiment is over tomorrow 😇
What would be splendidly interesting, as complementary data, would be if someone else (or yourself, providing enough time has passed) would repeat the experiment with opposite views.

7 years ago
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I think you see it this way because you share many of the same views, but I'm pretty sure that many people from, say, the Bible Belt, would see me as blasphemer who's a risk to society. It might just be there aren't too many such users on SG.

7 years ago
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Bump for social experiment ! While there's, of course, some points on which I can disagree, I guess we are globally made of the same kind of wood :)

7 years ago
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