Hey everyone, I'm going to be running some updates to our database server tonight and I'll be taking the site offline in 30 minutes. I did a test run of the scheduled changes earlier this week on a copy of our server, so I'm expecting no surprises. However, there will be about one hour of downtime. I'll extend any giveaways starting and ending around the downtime to ensure they're open for at least one hour.

The database software will be updated through a number of versions, I'll be rebuilding a few tables, and then moving the data volume to another database server that I have already prepared and online.

2 years ago

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2 years ago
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I'm not as fast as the monkey with my keyboard shortcuts, but I'll try to get this done with less face palms.

2 years ago
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May my comment survive the DB update

2 years ago
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2 years ago
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CG posting a meme.... thats new :-)

2 years ago
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PANIC?

2 years ago
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Kalm

2 years ago
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Gonna get my comment in before the downtime! 4 minutes to go!

2 years ago
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We're back.

2 years ago
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ε=ε=ε=ヾ(*゚Θ)ノ🚪[SteamGifts]

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻┻(・Θ\)Catch♪

Thank you maintenance.(∩´Θ`)∩

2 years ago
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2 years ago
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2 years ago
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Dad you're back

2 years ago
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Do you plan to translate the site into different languages? I'm sure the community will help with this. You can use sites like crowdin, i think it will be very helpful :)

2 years ago
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There are less giveaways than 5 years ago, and it's constantly diminishing. This site isn't growing in it's purpose.

2 years ago
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I agree, but this doesn't mean that need to leave everything as it is and slowly watch the site die
It's possible that some updates on the contrary will attract new users and increase activity
what do you think the site needs?

2 years ago
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  1. Identify the users who abuse the site by having multiple accounts
  2. Hack those accounts
  3. Have GAs where we give away whole accounts to people who have never gamed before (increasing the gamer community thereby)
  4. Ta DA!
    I'm not serious. I'm not really suggesting crime.
2 years ago
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:D

2 years ago
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More activity doesn't necessarily equal good. First step should be to clamp down on bots and fake CV, ideally by setting the CV value of shovelware games to 0. Then we can talk about building a healthy user base.

2 years ago
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Do you plan to translate the site into different languages? I'm sure the community will help with this. You can use sites like crowdin, i think it will be very helpful :)

The number of SG users is dominated by USA and Russia.
This site supports "English" and "Russian" languages.
This is also true for "support tickets".
Some other languages are supported by some supporters, but the priority of ticket support will be lower.
(Having it in both English and native language is not a bad idea when using the site)

Even if the contents of the Guideline are translated into multiple languages, it may be difficult to keep them updated.
Volunteers cannot be held responsible for any discrepancies caused by them, and CG will be troubled by them.

On a personal note, I have created "notes like this" for languages I know well, and I have created guideline notes to facilitate participation by users who are not fluent in "English" or "Russian".
 I also write a note that the English guidelines and the latest announcements are the official ones, and that notes of my own making are not responsible for their content.
📝

However, one day I may suddenly return to space, and even humans may suddenly fly into the sky.
 Before considering volunteering to do these translation tasks, it may be desirable to gather supporters who speak the language of the country where most participants are fluent in English or Russian.
 Unfortunately, I am constantly relying on the space 💻 translator, which is not helpful.

It seems to me that it is desirable to automate what can be automated in the content of support tickets to reduce the load on supporters and thereby augment the response to users who really need it.

As for multiple accounts and BOTs, simply using SGTools to check each winner for irregularities and reporting any problems to support would improve the environment.

 And yet it doesn't happen because of the time it takes to create a "canned" message to explain in a ticket to support.

For example, if a user's SteamLibrary has over 1,000 entries that violate the general terms and conditions, it becomes very heavy to check the game possession status.
 However, you have to check with SGtools and go open those possessions in a browser to check when there is a possibility of fraud.
(If you created a GA in SGtools, it is easy to post the URL corresponding to the violation in the SGtools discussion and they will take care of it...)

I create a GA once a month with a one month deadline to educate people about these activities.
It's a long-winded story.📝

 I think that incorporating SGtools functionality directly into Steamgifts was considered at some point, but I don't think it was ever done due to budget or something.
(I think I read an exchange about that, but can't remember)

It would be easier if there was a way to automatically open the Steam library in a browser after the check with SGtools, automatically populate the game filter to seize the presence or absence of the game, and automatically generate the text to be included in the support ticket....
It would be easy to automatically extract and include the comments of the offenders of the games that seem to have violated the terms of the agreement.

In any case, given what is at hand, if you have the money, become a patron of CG.
If you don't have money like I do, you'll probably check out GA winners and suspicious people on SGTools and report any problems you uncover with a support ticket.

There is a lot you and everyone else can do.
However...
Even though we can confirm the winners, you all would be more interested in the game if you had more time to investigate new suspicious people.👀👁👮🚨
This is something that can't be helped.
We are a gaming community.🎮(人Θ'o)📺💻

2 years ago
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¯_(ツ)_/¯

2 years ago
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use ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ if you want to keep the left hand intact :)

2 years ago
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okay, thank you
idk why this symbol disappear :D

2 years ago
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Backwards slash removes formatting, so when you want to write out your asterisks (*) you can use \*this\* to prevent it from turning italic.
I think a backwards slash just disappears, while having three makes the first cancel out the second, or idk.... it works :D

2 years ago
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The first backslash escapes the second so that the second will be a literal backslash instead of escaping whatever comes next. For example, \\*\\* will produce two backslashes, the second of which in italics (because the asterisks aren't escaped).

Does that make it clear? If not, I can try to explain some other way.

2 years ago
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I think it is, thanks!

2 years ago
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Glad I could help! :)

2 years ago
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Can you make option where we can only see certain level giveaways... For example only level 6 ( with out 1-5)

2 years ago
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2 years ago
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Also can be done using ESGST

2 years ago
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Please remember to make double backup before to do update and save backup in different devices not only 1.

2 years ago
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When making backups, do not forget to check if they are working :)

2 years ago
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Also, when doing backups...

We appreciate your time and effort. I'm sure you do tons of maintenance that we never have an inkling of. Thanks for all of that, too.

2 years ago
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Thanks for all your hard work and the updates CG.
Steam Gifts is an amazing site, I love it :)

2 years ago
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The updates must have failed. It's been six hours and I still haven't won anything!?

2 years ago
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+1 :D

2 years ago
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thanks for the updates

2 years ago
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