I am very thankful for the opportunity to reply to a comment reply.

I know people have very different opinions about this matter but personally I do not see it as a spam for few reason:

• If gifter likes them, they make him/her feel good. It is a positve feedback which might encourage contributors give more. At least it is better than no thanks (including from the winner).
• It shows that you appreciate the gifter and the giveaway at least that much that you can spare few seconds of your time to drop in simple message. Mind you, about 9 out of 10 do not do this.

I can understand why someone would not do this. In my opinion it is fine and should not be mandatory (as demanded by some) but I cannot undestand why these people would want others to stop it.

"I hear most contributors appreciate long columns of comments on their giveaways though, so I've been considering starting thanks-spamming as well."

This kind of mentality is sad. People miss the point entirely when they do that.

If you're openly seeing it as insincere then why the hell are you even considering to do it? It's that mindless "thanks" without reading the description that creates cynicism and causes others to miss the point entirely and jump on the shallow-thanks-bandwagon.

My suggestion would be to learn to understand why people say thanks, first. (the more sincere ones, that is)

A great step forward would be to feel empathy: put yourself in the gifter's shoes and ask yourself how hard it would've been for you to have done the same.

Then, once you understand the sacrifice involved from some of the gifters (not all of them, because I'm not naive) then try to express this into words:

• If the gifter wrote a description in his giveaway, then write something about it.

• Explain why you're joining the giveaway or why you appreciate the giveaway so much.

• Put some personality in your comment: agree or disagree with what the gifter wrote.

• Damn... thank a giveaway without joining it, even

But, most importantly, these things should be spontaneous and heart-felt. If they're not then don't even bother faking what your barren soul cannot conceive on its own.

These are just a few examples of the mentality behind it. Doing so shows that you put a dash of effort into your comment, making it stand out from the rest... and I believe that any gifter would appreciate that, even the most cynical, because the sincerity shows.

Too much work involved? Think of it as the least you could do.

Anyway, I'm far from being a paragon of gratefulness, because some of my comments do sound stale sometimes (even though I am thankful), but I always try to put some effort in them when something good comes to mind.

well, the way i see it is that you are just too fucking lazy to even write one single word of appreciation to let the guy know that you actually entered his giveaway and are grateful for the opportunity.

+1. I've only given away two games, but the repeated thanks seemed silly. I didn't bother reading past the first page.

oh right. sry about that

How do you know!

Maybe other people just spam it with no feelings, but I don't.

try to giveaway game at first, then speak whether people do believe this 'thankses' or not. i myself like it when people write anything in a giveaway because it can always start a conversation, i don't mind even something like 'fuck you'. whatever.

At least you show a little recognition if not gratitude..

I have tabs open right now, so that i can read the comments on my giveaways. Why would i not believe the ones commenting? The ones that never say thanks, even after receiving the gift are the ones that bug me...

That's not the matter.

The thing is, you don't know the feel of giving away something bought with your money to someone who didn't even bother to spend 5 seconds typing a comment.

You obviously didn't understand my comment. I meant the ones who whine about people saying "thanks", not the ones who say "thanks" per se.

It's not I want to know what people think, I wanted to discuss this, and just looking at old threads is hardly a dialog.