Edit - A common saying round here is 'ask a silly question and get a silly answer'. Clearly Brexit wasn't enough for me to learn that also applies to public votes, but here you go.

OK, obviously I know how to do that. But I'm going to have a bunch of games to giveaway soon and I find it stressful to decide the best way to do it (or at least the way that will get me into the least trouble). And I thought; "You know what, I'll just leave it up to other people. I'll have a poll and go along with what other people think is best for at least the next several months and then if anybody moans it'll be the fault of democracy." I'll add the train here in a few days if that is what is people voted for. The options are;

Public giveaways for level 2+ users

I started off doing public giveaways. I started trying other things because of the winners who didn't mark their games as received, the winners who complained they had won crap games, the winners who already owned the game, etc. But level 2+ isn't so bad, I guess because people at that level have had to run a bunch of giveaways of their own and understand what is involved, and I'd still be prepared to do that.

Pros

  • It's easy
  • It gets the best results if I feel like promoting my art
  • No blacklist drama
  • Fewer angry people abusing me in broken English for only making private giveaways and being a big leech

Cons

  • Most troublesome winners
  • I feel slightly bad for the hypothetical level 0-1 users who aren't complete dicks

Poorly hidden trains in discussions for users of all levels

This felt like an upgrade to me in terms of winners - it seems people who are paying enough attention to notice a train in discussions also generally pay enough attention to mark their games as received. And also meant I could have some fun with simple puzzles, choose-your-own adventure trains and themed trains. But did also come with a few drawbacks.

Pros

  • The most entertaining for me - especially when people get abusive without realising that something posted in 'puzzles' might be a puzzle
  • Most other people seem to like it also

Cons

  • Annoying blacklist drama from people who appear to have forgotten that they blacklisted me first
  • The worst leeches using alt accounts, leaked giveaway links, etc, to farm low entry giveaways
  • People complaining that It's an inefficient method of entering giveaways and I'm wasting their time
  • People complaining about elitist high level users flaunting their wealth and thinking low level users will be happy with bundle trash

SGTools protected train with lax rules

After a few bad experiences I recently experimented with an SGTools giveaway with rules of no unactivated wins and a minimum games given ratio of 0.2 - which I didn't think was unreasonable and overall seemed to work quite well.

Pros

  • Least troublesome winners

Cons

  • Many people appear to be of the opinion that SGTools is the elitist, exclusionary cancer that is killing Steam Gifts
7 years ago*

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What giveaways should I make in the future?

View Results
Public giveaways
Poorly hidden trains in discussions
SGTools protected train with lax rules
All of those ideas suck, let me tell you what you should be doing instead...
Are you mental? Just keep the games and farm the cards
If you have games then give them to me! I'll comment below so I can be blacklisted/suspended!

Thanks!

7 years ago
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Thanks for the train.

View attached image.
7 years ago
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bumpa

7 years ago
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This definitely looks like a bump

7 years ago
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Bump!!!!

7 years ago
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Thank you for the train, and for showing us your wonderful artwork.:)

BUMP!

7 years ago
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Final bump.;)

7 years ago
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Bump. 3 Hours left.

7 years ago
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I usually do public giveaways. I decide the level depending upon the type of game I'm giving away. I try and make them atleast level 4+, since I've had a few troubles with winners, especially level 0 and 1 ones.

7 years ago
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Bump! :3

7 years ago
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Bump :)

7 years ago
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Heck yeah, wonderful train. Thank you!

And do what you want. You're being generous. Beggars can't be choosers.

7 years ago
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I had no idea how trains worked when I started here, so public definitely helps the new guys. But I think you do get quality winners with SGTools. I still have to figure out how to make it work tho. XD

EDIT: How to make it work for giveaways, I mean.

7 years ago
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It's your giveaway
So you should do like what your heart said.. Believe your heart! Believe in yourself
Ehh I'll stop now xD
But if you want a decent person to win your GA, maybe SGtools + some rules that you want

I'm here to bump because I entered your GAs

View attached image.
7 years ago
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Bump!

7 years ago
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For me, it's usually SGTools with loose restrictions. I've found two custom rules really help in this regard.

For making a time window on multiple wins so that old ones don't stop people from entering:
last_multiple_win <= date_modify(date('now'), '-1 years')

For users who have Steam trade bans:
!VAC_economy_ban

Using those plus 'activated all wins' is my basic set. If I include ratio stuff, it's just dependent on my mood. Sometimes I want to up the chances for people who don't leech as much. :)

7 years ago
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