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.
8 years ago*

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Don't worry, I have you covered.

View attached image.
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that's not enough for the summer sale :(

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When you delete a comment to try and cover your tracks it is never really deleted 8===D~~..,,

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8 years ago
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Someone got ashamed of what they said, or maybe they got scared that Angry Erple's army of steam review mafia nerds might show up on their doorstep and pop a zit in their ass

8 years ago
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Fair enough.

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More the "You can be proud to be a member of our society" xD

View attached image.
8 years ago
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Posting this here so it's at the top. If anyone remembers the GTA V giveaway that OTG did back in March, you might notice that the winner was "MEDEA" aka his wife.

8 years ago
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I heard about that. Sounds like something they'd do. She responded to one of my comments on this page.

8 years ago
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Yeah, but then she deleted it. People are posting this thread in his giveaways, just so you know.

8 years ago
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ou

8 years ago*
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Wow... Did not know about this. Reacted appropriately. Thanks for the heads up!

8 years ago
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You mean that you left the groups?

Reacted appropriately

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Indeed, I did.

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Watch out for the giveaways he's still posting.

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They were probably also donated by other members who bought the bundles.

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cuz people are like sheeps...

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Sheeple is the word you are looking for.

8 years ago
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the girl gamers group had a admin and she lost his admin position because of us. Now she is raging around. Like other banned people . .

"The only thing i don't understand is why anyone would write a bad review or report just because someone said so"

No one will do that because everyone has a free mind.

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Well regardless of the fairytale you tell yourself, it appears Steam acknowledges you violated the TOS because all of your reviews are locked.

"This review has been banned by a Steam moderator for violating the Steam Terms of Service. It cannot be modified by the reviewer."

Won't be long till you're banned. :)

8 years ago
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Salz, darling, I quit long after your bullying me. It seems that you enjoy making things all about you... though I did laugh at the "raging around" comment.

8 years ago
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Yes, 3 days later;) 1 day after we send some prove to your founder. . .
But yo ufound very fast a new group. Congratz ^^ hope it will help you to forget.

8 years ago
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m3h , blacklisting me just so i cant reply to your insults eh ?

Hope your parents are real proud of you .

So first of all , the whole email trafic just proves how pathetic of a human being you are .
Second of all , ofc people will follow your shitty courator when you spam steam feed 10 milion times a day that they can get an amazing 0.01$ worth game for free if they do so .
And last but not least , the only mistake i made was even thinking there is a point to talk to the brick wall your brain is ...

So yeah , have a nice day blackmailing indie devs ... Real cool way of earning peoples trust .
Bet you will be a great politician !

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I have to say that when i first joined the group, I donated well over 50 extra keys and gave away a TON during a birthday giveaway. This was totally okay by Salz, who started to bully me for stuff a month or so later, and now it's catching up with him.

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  1. We all know: you are angry because i banned you from our group. So you came out now and try to make some promotion against me.

  2. I spent more as 7k Euros in buying bundles and other games. I have still alot of keys left. I'm top 1 contributor on another giveaway website and i am also made alot of group or sgifts giveaways. i never earned anything from our work. I did it because i like big groups, i like the communtiy, our chat, and our people. I work mostly the whole day on our community to make giveaways, and write honest reviews.

8 years ago
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You didn't ban me. I left. I left after I figured out what kind of person you are and what you were using your group for.

There is nothing you can do or say at this point to turn things around. NOTHING. You screwed up, you got called out on it, and now it's PUBLIC for the world to see. No backing out of it now. Own up to what you did and take responsibility for your own actions instead of trying to shift the blame to others.

I'm not mad. I knew this would come back and bite you eventually. It's called karma. Look it up.

8 years ago*
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Just vouching for NerdHouse here. He was not banned by Salz. NerdHouse left of his own accord after something similar to this happened several months ago. Salz will lie at any cost to attempt to save his incredibly tarnished image.

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Same reason I left.

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Posting group chat screen shots with names and all clearly visible is a big Nogo. No matter how angry/ frustrated/sad you are. I think we all get what you want to say, without showing screenshots. And maybe it's just me or..did you form your own group ? Could it be..that you are just a little envious ?

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How is posting screenshots a no go? It's not calling out considering that the news has already gone public and people know who the actual culprit is. These screenshots are evidence with regards to what Salz did. And I doubt he'd be envious of a group that is being abandoned by its co-founder and admins so quickly as if though they were fleeing from the Titanic.

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@ Medea: I made my group long before I ever knew of the Original Traders Group. That's apparently how he found me to recruit me as a curator to begin with. He saw and liked one of my reviews. I also do not go around blackmailing developers. I simply buy games and review them in my free time purely for fun.

People have said you are DuckHead's wife. Why are you defending him? Your reputation is being dragged through the mud as well....I do not understand how you can still stand by him after this has been brought to light, unless you have also indulged in the same activities? Or maybe...I dunno....you are the mastermind? Behind every "great" man is a woman pulling his strings, after all, as the saying goes.

8 years ago*
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drags NerdHouse away and pats back let's just hope they never breed...

8 years ago
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How is GTA V?

8 years ago
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get lost

8 years ago
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oh, you are already in your own reality. Congratz.

No wonder that you are friend with the other small curator trolls, and the ex trial mod junky. . .

Maybe you 7-8 people should make your own group "we do not have success so we hate others without any reason" we are posting lies without any prove and think we are cool. Please help us, oh and follow our very old curatio ngroup because we have just 200-500 followers (each of us) ...

lol.. we do not are about you and your waste of life. Hang out on steamgifts. The people will come back inthe next giveaway, they do not care about leis without any prove!

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No, you are in your own sad little denial. What you did was wrong. You got caught. Take responsibility for your actions like an adult, if you even are one. Judging by your actions and posts, I'm inclined to believe that you aren't.

"We do not have success"....I'm not trying to be successful. What I do I do for fun. Nothing more.

No reason? You threatened and blackmailed a developer to get free games.
"without any prove" PROOF IS ALL OVER THE INTERNET.

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You leis with prove Salz, yes its truuuth people will come with next giveaway, but what people ? People that dont care about community and not participating in it. And you will use them as braging meat to developers. But it wont help you, becouse COMMUNITY hates you !

8 years ago
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Please every word you write makes your dire situation even worse, you are officially beyond stupid.
The least you can do is get someone who has some intelligence to write on your behalf.

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Maybe then you wouldn't have written such a stupid email you spoilt little shit

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You keep deleting comments from people and you've really upped the amount of announcements you've made about little giveaways. It's amazing how all of this is sailing RIGHT over your head, dude. You have no idea what you did wrong. You still think this is about ONE thing you did, when it's actually like 6 months of consistent jerkwad behavior.

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FYI, you can screenshot a group page, and it is listed right at the top whether or not you were banned by a group admin.

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oh - you're online after all? Why don't you bother to response to counterargument for over 4 hours and instead send your "minions" to downvote copy-pasta of it on reddit thread?

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I posted this on reddit, feels like I should put it here too (it's a reply to him trying to say he spent 7k euro on the group):

So sad. You haven't spent a single cent of your own money on anything for the group. The only money you spend on games is from selling the free games you've been given. You don't even have a job, you are on disability -- so even if you did spend your money you are actually spending other peoples tax dollars.
The real situation is you're a degenerate in the Steam community, and won't be a member of the community for much longer.
Hopefully you've learnt something from all of this.

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Doesn't appear to be so, seems like he's continuing on like nothing happened. <3.

That last heart is for you. Also it's sincere.

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Do you even sync your account bro
Just because you have given away free games does NOT mean you can treat people with disrespect.
You think you're clever but you're just a rat, I sniffed you out a long time ago. Shortly after our little incident you were removed from our group for breaking rules.

And once again, have a nice day : )

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:)

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spent all your Hartz4 money?

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he probably makes his GAs just with keys he receives for free from devs to promote their games. There was other guy on SG in the past with "his massive community of few thousand followers" that would get (in)famous for boosting crazy CV just promising to "promote their games" by which he basically meant creating GAs and saying here is an awesome game from ME, for more join MY GROUP, and somewhere in the end mentioned "game was donated by XYZ company" sometimes and sometimes not even that. He would also trade part of donated keys to his most dedicated followers on big discount compared to steam prices.

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Exactly. He also trades and sells the keys he gets from devs on a different account.

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He was in my group and get kicked pretty fast for inactivity, I bet his giveaways are covered by someone else.

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I guess that's what you get hen you have kids running groups... xD
Can't even imagine DuckHead being over 19, but around 14-16 would be my best guess...
Also, love how he promises reviews written in "perfect" English when his broken English hurts my eyes and my soul xD

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I wasn't the only one that noticed the English part then. :p

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He's over 30 years old sadly.

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Now that is just sad...
For someone over 30 to speak so badly, not even bother using Word or Google translate to correct his sentences and all that in an "official" email where he "represented" thousands of people... :(

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Mommy and Daddy's money.

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Is... Is this a surprise? No one is honest, in reality. I look at these types of groups / networks / whatever the hell they call them these days, and I groan. Chances are that most groups like these are just doomed to fail.

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No surprise really. People were just afraid to come forward about it before the post on Twitter. When I left the groups several months ago after exposing another incident, he had his people downrate my reviews and leave hateful comments. People were most likely afraid of the backlash.

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And rightfully so. I'm assuming, as I'm not a law expert, this specific 'case' would be... Slandering? I mean, they are trying to lower the reputation of, whatever company it was, via false reviews. I'm not even sure if slander is 'against' the law.

I don't really know much about this stuff but I'm assuming it would be slander in the form of false/fake reviews. I'm not sure if slander applies to reviews on companies but it still heavily affects reputation.

8 years ago
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A restaurant sued a Yelp Reviewer back in 2012 I believe...

So I would think yes, the devs could probably sue. Might not be worth it but they can.

8 years ago
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he could fall under the celebrity clause do to running the group and being a top contrib

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You can open a civil case for any reason, at least in the USA. He lives in Germany though.

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In a non-ignorant comment, it's just overall bad reputation for the group(s) and the people involved. These types of shit-filled groups are all over Steam and it's no surprise when I see someone post a forum thread about it. I just wish I had popcorn for these instances.

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http://prntscr.com/7cpy3d

Comments on an announcement made about mods now being paid for.

Make your own conclusions.

8 years ago
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you should hide the names i think

8 years ago
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it's not really calling out in terms of the site's rules.

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Is it ?
Im not really sure ... i'm just saying it ... cus better safe then sorry .

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well, from one point of view it's not, as in your screenshot he is not breaking any rules, but as in OP his clearly named DUCKHEAD your SS alows anyone to identify it as person mentioned that is breaking the rules and hence may be calling out.

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I suppose but it's still not within the boundaries of 'calling out', I'd say. This is centered around a scandal about a group that is fact, not just slandering someone's name when they might be innocent.

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no-calling-out is not only for ppl who "might" be innocent. you cannot call out ppl who are guilty as well - because it is support role to 1) determine if someone is guilty and 2) punish him. You are not allowed to punish someone on your own.

But in this case you should be free to go, as person we are talking about caled himself out few coments below ;) Just keep this in mind for future - you may not call out aqnyone ever - doesn't matter if they are guilty or innocent. Report to support instead of publicly naming them. Otherwise it will get you suspended, whether they are innocent or not.

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Dont get me wrong , i dont say hes calling anything out .
TBH in this case id love that the Calling out rule didnt exist , so everyone could know who exactly we are talking about .

Its just , i said it so OP dont get suspended for no reason .

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I may not like you, but it doesn't change the fact that I agree with you on this particular matter, as stated in my 2 posts above. Why this may not be direct calling out in correlation with Main Topic post it does call out who the duck guy is.

But also the duck guy called himself later in a topic. And when he does that the no-calling out rule no longer applies. It's like with all these topics where you see OP calling outy himself on breaking a rules because he don't know them. Adressing rulebreaker in a topic he shows himself is no longer calling out, because he decided to come out on his own.

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Liking me or not is not really the question in hand :)

The topic in question was about that Trash of society duck guy , so i just wanted to warn Lewis that someone May find it as calling out ( even tho it isnt in this case )

As for me , i know i trashtalk a lot ... and more often then not the point i try to make are ... kinda inapropariate , but thats me :)
Like me , or not ... your call i respect it either way.

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That's exactly what I was trying to saying. Calling out is for somebody who might be innocent. Last few words of my sentence.

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Yo, fancy seeing you around here. Hurry up finish my game, no time for gossiping : )

8 years ago
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I'm assuming he... Doesn't know anything about how it works? I don't recall the modders getting '0% mostly'.

8 years ago
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TIL not giving free keys is bad support.

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I mean ... its kinda ridiculous to say the least ... the way some groups on steam operate .

Like people calling out someone for Scaming them , when in fact its They who did scam someone , and even agroing the sheep that are following them to Report the Scamed person promising them rewards .

There was some guy , who got owned in a CS game , and made a topic with a fucking youtube video crying like a baby that someone was a hacker , and everyone should report him and post proof they did ...
And was giving away 0.03$ worth of Skins to everyone who did.

Guess what ? Hundreds of ppl did so .

Its just Ridiculous how stupid some people are ... they see the word free , and they would even give you their moms credit card details for it ...
And its Ridiculous , how people exploit their stupidity for just nonsensical reasons .

I had no clue what was happening with that Duck guy , cause like 99% of the groups im part of in steam , i give close to no fuck what they are doing ... its just that Steamcompanion forced me to join them cause they ware hosting a GA for a game i was interested in ...

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Uh god... thats just pure gold.

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"Prefessionell"

lol.

8 years ago
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Hahahaha

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I almost became their curator and those guys were telling me my English was not good enough... lol
EDIT: Glad I decided not to join them.

8 years ago
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wew... lol

8 years ago
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Wow what a twat.

7 years ago
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Thanks for the heads up. Left all the groups a few minutes ago.

8 years ago
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+1

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+2

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still in the group, want to see the sinking ship....

8 years ago
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Yup. There's no sense in being part of "very big group" which admins harass devs for free keys.

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That kinda happens every time he host a giveaway for a Nonbundle game ...

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WOW, did NOT know this, leaving too!

8 years ago
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Duckhead is a friend of mine (on steam)- and seems a decent bloke and a dedicated gamer from when ive spoken to him. He can be misunderstood as his English isn't always the best

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I mean ... there is hardly anything to misunderstand here tho .
Hes literally threating the guy with bad reviews , cause didnt get free key .
Thats all there is to get ...
Regardless of how bad his english is , that kinda cant be mistaken .

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yes you are right- i only just read the twitter thing now- i have been surprised by all this giveaway groups etc last few months as when i first added+ spoke to him many months ago he was not doing any of that. he was just playing the demo for Towns for hours and hours which i though was funny as game is famously abandoned

8 years ago
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You're still friends with him? o.O

8 years ago
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well he is on my Steam Friends list...just out of interest/ curiosity

8 years ago
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I think the worst part about all of his comments are the ;) he leaves at the end of them. That's... Self-explanatory.

8 years ago
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yeah, ) smileys are so outdated now, it's all about > smileys now :>

8 years ago
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no its all about smileys with a nose, :^)

8 years ago
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OMG, I can't believe I've seen this smiley 100 times before and I only learned now that the ^ is supposed to be the nose :O

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This is what I (and one of my friends) wrote onto the activity feed. Should have shared it here on steamgifts too though, but I'll share it now. =)

My friend wrote this very detailed & well written discussion about some particular groups (The Original Traders Group, Original Curators Group, Original Giveaway Group, blabla) that you should all read!
Especially since I have over 90 of you people on my friendlist in just one of their groups...

Please take the time to read the following!

I, myself, experienced the creator of the group adding me again (after me deleting him just 20 minutes earlier) and he wrote some accusations & lies about one of my friends on my profile which he then shortly after deleted to hide the proof. And not only that he also went to downvote all my reviews. Real cool guy!


>>>Warning about the Original Groups Network<<<

The original Groups Network consists of these groups:

  • Original Traders Group
  • Original Curators Group
  • Original_Giveaway_Group
  • German_Gamer_Community
  • Original Society Club

These groups have all sprung up not too long ago and have grown pretty large by now.
They are all connected and directed by a handful of people and operate like a business.

I got several invites to the first 4 of these groups but never joined them, because i saw right away that they seem shady. But i know many of you are member in one or more of them. I also had 2 of their Reviewers and 3 Moderators/Admins of these groups in my friendslist until i removed them today.

I got several messages yesterday that alarmed me and that made me look into what these groups do and how they do it. And nothing i found out was pretty. I asked a friend who was harassed by the group what is going on and asked him to sum it up for me, read below for the list:


  • The groups do "Giveaways" & "Contests" for the people who mass Invite their friendslist. Which leads to the groups explosive growth and all that invite spam that I and many more got from them.

  • They keep mass inviting and spamming because the owner only gives free keys out to people who invite more people so hence people getting spammed with invites all the time.

  • But they keep all the big games for themselves - never giving them out like the publisher wanted to group members - only moderators and admins get all the big games the rest they just dish out bundle keys but they make people believe they can actually win the big AAA games when that is not true.

  • Their reviews can not be trusted, because they are bought reviews - all those reviewers are only allowed to say positive things so that they can keep getting free steam games and keys. Negative reviews will not be published and the reviewers will be harassed.

  • They try to take over other review groups. If you own your own curator group they say you can join for all the free games they give out, but you must close your group down and migrate all your members to their group. (That way they already got at least 3 curators that i had in my friendslist)

  • The Admin will only give you more keys if you publish positive reviews - if you publish a negative review you will never get another key from the group. And they use their muscle in numbers to bully publishers and developers into giving them free keys.

  • They use female gamers as bait to lure male gamers into their chats - This is organized by their Admins, its totally sexist and is not the way you treat female gamers. (Now if those are real females is another thing altogether)

  • They do despicable things like down-vote all your reviews etc. if you leave the group and voice your concerns about it - they also harass and spread lies about you in the hopes that they get friends to leave your friends list if you don't agree with them.

  • When you finally block those harassing you, they get other members to friend you, so that they can still attack you through these other members who then attack and pressure you still. That's why I don't add any people from that group now at all.


Now that's quite a list now, isn't it?

Keep in mind that i have not experienced any of that firsthand. But i do believe those that reported these things to me. And you don't need to be a genius to see how these groups operate with mass inviting, and announcement spamming, and advertising in their reviews.

To me it looks like those groups are operating like a virus-like network, that is exploiting the steam community, for the gain of very few, and annoying, and even hurting others in the process.

That's why i choose to publish what i learned so far so that you can make a picture yourself and judge if you want to be part of such groups. I reported all their groups and removed those who where admins/moderators/reviewers in these groups.

I would like to ask you to be mindful which groups you join, not all are good ones, many are useless and some, are probably harmful.

8 years ago*
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8 years ago
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<3

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Downvotes buries your reviews I believe.

8 years ago
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No. I didn't even write many reviews, and most of mine are like 2-3 years old. You don't gain anything. It's just something you do to either recommend or not recommend a game. Downvoted reviews just gets e.g. "9 out of 10 liked this review" instead of "9 out of 9 liked this review". It's just a dick move to do because we stood against him, he felt like he had to talk shit about us, downvote our reviews to "hurt" us etc.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Thanks for adding some colour to the picture. :D

8 years ago
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No problem! The more people that are aware the better! :) Now steam activity feed everywhere, discussions, steamgifts, twitter, and reddit and most likely more knows :D! About time this got into the light!

8 years ago
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They also have another group, no?

But this one seems harmless..

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Duck_Society

8 years ago
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Ah yes, it's a new group he made not long ago. But still.. I would stay away from his groups. ^^'

8 years ago
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So much niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice attitudes :D

8 years ago
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Definitely! :P

8 years ago
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This is really deplorable. Not only am I glad that I left all these groups but I'm also glad that people who use extortion and blackmail get what they deserve. Personally, I was shocked when I heard that Salz was involved in this, because he was on my friendlist and we've talked and he seemed like a nice guy. Guess you never know, huh?

8 years ago
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Yep.. Well, it was Salz' doing. Not the rest of them. So ye, you never know.. :p

8 years ago
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Saw this too some time ago and was the reason I've found them shady way before this twitter debacle. Thanks :)

8 years ago
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That's good^^

8 years ago
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Welp. Sorry for inviting you into the group.

8 years ago
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I don't remember who invited me. I got so many invites it was crazy.

8 years ago
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Good writing MilleW, thanks for informing community, altough he is on my block list for a veeeery long time

8 years ago
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Glad to be of service =)

8 years ago
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wow.. I didn`t know reviews in steam are such huge deals even though sometimes I read reviews to determine the game is good or bad..

8 years ago
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They gotta find a way to 'hurt' you, I suppose.

8 years ago
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Thanks for sharing Millie :)

8 years ago
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lol, people like you should get a life.

To bad that we allways let the winners confirm in our comment sections.
To bad that all our giveaways on steamgifts and steamcompanion also confirmed.

To bad... that now everyone can see: you are just a little lier.

"They use female gamers as bait to lure male gamers into their chats - This is organized by their Admins, its totally sexist and is not the way you treat female gamers. (Now if those are real females is another thing altogether)"

Hm, okay i tought that azura had to left girl gamers because she was just a lier. And so she lost her admin position;)
I understand all people are wrong and azura says the truth and for this truth she had to left girl gamers. of course.

"They do despicable things like down-vote all your reviews etc. if you leave the group and voice your concerns about it - they also harass and spread lies about you in the hopes that they get friends to leave your friends list if you don't agree with them."

I am not your troll friend. I do not care about your reviews i even do not know you.

"They try to take over other review groups. If you own your own curator group they say you can join for all the free games they give out, but you must close your group down and migrate all your members to their group. (That way they already got at least 3 curators that i had in my friendslist)"

Another lie. We never did that we jsut do not allow doublepost of the same reviews. And this is why we decilined the application of your troll friend;) nothing else. Easily to proof all our old curators still have their own groups. And our curators in our group have also own groups.. we do not care. As long you do not doublepost reviews.

But your little envy trollfriend wanted aaa free games from us that he can get some followers with doubleposting of reviews for his little group. . .

"The Admin will only give you more keys if you publish positive reviews - if you publish a negative review you will never get another key from the group. And they use their muscle in numbers to bully publishers and developers into giving them free keys."

Another lie. 1. We do not upload negative curations, because curations are positive. This is why steam write "recommend from curators" and of course because the devs and publishers can hide them. But okay your troll friend exactly do the same. ANd we allow negative reviews. Otherwise you would not find so much negative reviews from our old curators or me written with review keys. Easily to check.

You are a very bad lier.

"But they keep all the big games for themselves - never giving them out like the publisher wanted to group members - only moderators and admins get all the big games the rest they just dish out bundle keys but they make people believe they can actually win the big AAA games when that is not true."

90% of our aaa giveaways are on steamcompanion or Steamgifts. And all are confrimed. Very stupid lie.
Oh, and the other 10% in our group giveaways are DROPPED randomly in our chat, like our 2 witcher 3 key drops and more as 100 people were in the chat and there is no way to fake it. Specially when people confirm that they got it. And our Announcement drops are also allways confirmed in the announcemend comment section. . .

Maybe you should think before you are going to lie. It's not very smart to lie like that. Everyone can check my words. Your words are just hot air without any prove.

8 years ago*
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Aww look whos talking again
Still throwing a tantrum, kiddo?

8 years ago
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lmao just saw this. Butthurt?

8 years ago
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Thanks for posting! ... very long and informative posting, SteamRep profile get's bigger and bigger. I wonder how many groups operate on number of members - I joined many of them simply to get rid of invitation spam, no activity from my side except for few groups... As for this one - well, I need some time to fully look into this so I make up my mind calmly - I'm too busy recently for full review of matter and I've just read about it so there's still some confusion (new in groups). Staying for short period of time leaves me track of feedback but definitely no activity from me until resolution.

As for curating, reviews etc. I rarely check those - it's better to see game in action (favourite YouTube channels of people I know they are honest and like similar games as I do). I guess some devs still believe in marketting - I don't :P

See you around!

8 years ago*
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THANK YOU FOR EXPOSING THIS

I know its not "your work" but it was you who made this thread, removed myself from those groups and blacklisted them all.

8 years ago
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Duckhead is a friend of mine so I am staying out of this mess for the time being. Mixed feelings on this to be honest.

8 years ago
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Question is, WHO THE HELL IS WE?

Seriously, though, that was a dick move.

8 years ago
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Great.... left all the groups and unfollowed their curator page >_<

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Thanks for the heads up. Time to leave a few groups.

8 years ago
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I had no idea of how shady these groups where, I'm leaving the 2 I was part of.
Thanks for spreading the news, this behavior is unacceptable.

8 years ago
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Hi all,

just for info. I know that i made a pr guy angry after i wrote to his ceo. But back to the facts: I did not changed any review or curations, and i even did not own their game. I also did not wrote to a single mod or admin to do anythign against them.

I know i was unprofessionell. I should not wrote to give them a bad review because their support, and pr did not responsed to my questions If they are in holiday. But everyone can be angry, and i just wanted that they answer. As i wrote i did not changed any of our curations or something like that. Our curation is still positive, the review is still positive i just mentiod that the support idn ot answered us.

Thank you for your attention

8 years ago
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This might be believable if you hadn't done the same thing to the developer of Operation: Covert here: http://prntscr.com/7cpy3d just a month before simply because he had a different opinion to you on the paid mods issue. Sorry Salz but I don't think you should be pretending to be innocent here, I think you should just admit you did a very bad thing and realise now what a fool you have been.

8 years ago
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WHat are you talking? O.o he offered us 100 keys because to make a giveaway but after isaw he support paid mods i cancel our giveaway and did not accept the keys;) and deleted him as friend i alrleady told hi mthat i overracted, that it's free speech and he is backas my friend. Just for info. This is something compelte different.

8 years ago
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Was it really necessary to ban him from all your groups? You didn't overreact, there was nothing to react over, you had different opinions - end of discussion. This is what is called community corruption on Steam and there's usually no coming back from it.

8 years ago
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Salz is under the mistaken impression that he is important and people care what he thinks because he runs some Steam groups.

8 years ago
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God, my head hurts reading that.

8 years ago
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Don't forget, it happened with "War, the Game" as well! xD

8 years ago
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even if we were to believe you (I don't, I think most of ppl don't either, proofs tell for themselves, also backed by many other devs on twitter), what about a part where you promise massive numbers of positive reviews on steam? And curation? You see it morally right to exploit review system, writing fake reviews that do not address actual state of the game in exchange for personal gain?

Hope it reaches Valve fast and they ban your sorry ass.

8 years ago
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We never wrote fake reviews. It's true that we do not write negative curations like all other curator groups. Because steam write "recommend from curator" that explains it. Curations are positive and we are just leave the bad games alone (mostly) if we test a bad game we just write a negative review but not a curation. You can find alot of negative reviews from our mods and admins or from me.

8 years ago
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let me quote you on your own email:
"We are happy to promote your game and to make this a win / win situation. You will sell more games (because positive reviews and curations) [...]"

So you're basically promising a dev boosting his sales by, quoting you positive reviews and curations before you've even played the game. It's all the proof that is needed here.

And based on the OP topic - all your negative reviews may as well just be you getting back on devs who refused to your blackmail.

8 years ago*
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What you are is a liar and a goddamned coward. I assume Steam will be along shortly to shut your little extortion ring and probably your profile too. Enjoy the good times while they last.

8 years ago
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No one believes you.

8 years ago
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None of your reviewers wrote fake reviews, almost every review that you've written has been written by people that you just annoyed into doing it/bullied them into doing it with threats. Most people just give in, because they don't want to deal with you. People who act like this well into adulthood are usually the ones whose parents let them have everything they wanted because they cried too much.

8 years ago
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Wait, is this for serious...? No, damage control is beyond your control, sir. You're finished, unfortunately.

8 years ago
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8 years ago*
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This pretty much explains it

8 years ago
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What's worse, and fits your example perfectly, even if he had a toy knife that just looked real but couldn't do any real harm he'd still be guilty (real knife= claiming to have power to influence the votes)...

8 years ago
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No, i just lied i even do not own the game;) I just was angry and this is why i wrote him i will give him a negative review, and tell my friends and modds to do the same. Everyone has his free mind so i would not be able to tell anyone something like that;) and i am also not able to change my review from positive to negativei f i never wrote one or if i even do nto own the game.

8 years ago
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Mr. Duck,

You claim that, although you threatened to commit harmful acts, you did not actually perform any. I am afraid that you misunderstand society's rules. It was threatening him that was bad. Very bad. I believe in innocence until proof of guilt, preferrably argued and adjudicated by a qualify judge, but I will accept your admisssion of wrongdoing as a statement of fact and as enough evidence of guilt, taking at your word.

I have no desire to be associated with someone who commits such acts and therefore regret to inform you that I will be removing myself from your groups as soon as possible. I will, of course, also remove myself from any group-exclusive giveaways and contests I have entered.

Please accept my sincere wishes that you find happiness in your future.

Regretably,
A.J. Kishel
Bellevue

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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I'm getting 15to20% of open mails (other topic, same target). Getting a reply is a miracle! which puts a smile on my face :)

8 years ago
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Exactly. Devs can block him for spam.

8 years ago
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SalzStange 24 minutes ago
Wow, i love how you all set up on a shitstorm without any proof. . Our curation + review for the game is still positive i just added that the supprot does not responsed us. This is a fact. And it's a free speech. If we do not like that they did not response us we can write it. But we did not changed any verdict, review or deleted curation because the game is still good.

Without any proof, lol

8 years ago
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Evidence isn't proof!

8 years ago
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Some is, some isn't. What a stupid thing to say..

8 years ago
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It was a joke :/

8 years ago
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My bad then, I don't get it still, but my bad.

8 years ago
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It's an absurd statement, like saying 'A cat isn't a cat'.

8 years ago
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@ Girlbeard you are right Evidence Isn't Proof (but it can be) http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?EvidenceVersusProof.
@ SlipShot No it wasn't a stupid thing to say. But it was a bad joke if it indeed started as a joke.

8 years ago
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these people are calling you a Quack Doctor (of steam gift philanthropy)

8 years ago
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How many time are you gonna copy and paste the same comments with the same typos on multiple pages?

8 years ago
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This isn't about "we didn't change any of our reviews so let's all forget about it, and it's okay, and I'm sorry". If you were to be taken seriously at all within the Steam community - users and devs - then this sort of behaviour should never have even crossed your mind to begin with. It should never have occurred to you to write such an email to them - but it did - so that tells me you like to dance that line and have done so a few times. Only this time, you might actually get some heavy backlash from it.

8 years ago
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@AngryErpel: The people standing up against you now aren't "trolls that you banned" as you claim them to be in your latest chats in group, but rather people who saw through your crap and left of their own volition. Now they your shit has been exposed to the public, they are all coming forward. My advice to you would be to disband your groups and fade away. You are not fit to run anything larger than a pencil sharpener. Your posts, chat logs in your groups, and your email to Hugh all say as much.

There is NOTHING you can do or say to save yourself from this hole you dug.

8 years ago*
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To bad that i allready uploaded the whole emailtraffic and to bad that the dislikes go back at the moment. . .
But you had your chance and we have some wonderfull screenshots and logs. Thank you.

8 years ago
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The whole email that still says you tried to blackmail the dev.
The wonderful screenshots that only dig your hole deeper.
Good job.

8 years ago
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ohhhh god the cringe

8 years ago
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Some free legal advice..shut up. The more attention you bring to yourself the more likely somebody will report you to German authorities.
1) What you did is borderline extortion. The only thing that is protecting you from those charges is the fact you refused to continue to do business with them. Had you done otherwise it would be a simple case and the consequences are severe.
2) Did you comply with all German raffle/gambling laws? Violating them risks 5 years in jail or a fine. My understanding is 2 different raffles you had were suspicious. Steam is an American company and has to retain records for 3-7 years. It would be very easy for German authorities to obtain evidence against you if you press your luck.
3) My understanding is you are on government disability. Are you complying with all disclosures required regarding income? Free games from developers can be considered either a gift or a business transaction. You seem to be conducting your curator group as a business instead of a club.
4) Are you paying taxes on these free games you are receiving? You're required to pay taxes on gifts except from family.

Right now the only people who are doing anything against you is Steam. You violated their TOS for using threats. Due to European laws my understanding is you can still access your game library, so the most they'll be able to do to you is a community ban. Why risk more?

8 years ago
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Oh dear xD

8 years ago
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Haha..I like to escalate :)

8 years ago
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Wow. +1 sir. You are 100% right on all points. That was amazing.

8 years ago
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THIS IS A GOOOOOOOOOD POOOOOOSSSSTTT. Wish I could +Rep for good posts. Dilligent, please trade with me so i can give you +Rep.

No I wouldn't do that, it would be dishonest. I would only give you +Rep for a fair and good trade.

Still, though. <3

8 years ago
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8 years ago*
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as a german citizen i already reported him monday at his local police department

8 years ago
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If he's required to pay taxes from gifts, wouldn't we all have to pay taxes when winning something on giveaway websites?

8 years ago
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Depends on individual tax laws. If you want to be a perfect citizen and report it as gamble/prize winnings you might have to pay a tax on it if it meets their thresholds. His giveaways just on this site total $22k msrp, which the German government would most certainly make an effort to get their pie slice. There's a lot of technicalities involved. How many perfect citizens do you know though?

8 years ago
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@dohlicious: Any update on that?

8 years ago
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no but due to the normal procedure and the bureaucracy it can take up to a few weeks/months until something happens
but something will happen

8 years ago
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Hhaha i actually have that duck person blocked on steam because he/she was harrasing me to join this group;and write some reviews because i was 'pretty'. Needless to say once i originally said no; the beautiful name calling commenced.

EDIT 10:04PM PST: a Quick PSA

PLEASE DO NOT RANDOMLY ADD ME TO DISCUSS ANYTHING CONCERNING THIS TOPIC, OR NONSENSE RELATED TO IT

[i just wanted to give my 2 cents is all after i found out whom this person was]

8 years ago*
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no one does that to me :( and i am a cute bunny

8 years ago
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They're fools, they will never understand the power of the bunny.

EDIT: I was going to get a clip of that fire-breathing bunny but I FAILED. Shame on me.

8 years ago
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it's cool :)

8 years ago
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May your wish come true! You are a pretty cute bunny.

View attached image.
8 years ago
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:O!

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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A wee timorous beastie!

8 years ago
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When I lived in my sorority house, I owned a bunny rabbit. Quite cute, yet mischievous they are (@=

8 years ago
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'pretty' people make the best reviews

8 years ago
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That's basically why Jim Sterling is so successful.

8 years ago
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Closed 5 years ago by Khalaq.