After the previous fiasco and given the tainted history of the group, this should hardly come as a surprise to anyone who knows of it:

Subscription fee poll [link to original]

Hookups Announcement [link to original]

Apparently the revenue he generates 'under the table' from the ~30,000 group members by inserting disguised referral links into all of the Amazon deal links, which he uses to "pay his rent" (previously in his own words), is not enough for his tastes. Making money off of the group members is what it is really about for the owner and always has been -- and without them knowing about it. And because the group owner has control over everything he can censor and delete whatever he wants to cover up the truth of what has happened previously and continues to transpire.

Edit: As a matter of further clarity, a big issue with the previous drama that went on at Hookups was about him not being upfront and honest about where the money is/was going, as well as being unwilling to tell anyone (even his own previous staff members before they all quit) about how much it is/was. He had people doing the work of scouring for deals and putting together announcements for him, and then he would go in later after the fact and edit their posts to put in his own referral links, which they understandably took issue with when they found out. That's just the tip of the iceberg as they say. If you want to know more you can always read up in the link above.

To anyone who may have a friend in the group, I encourage all of you to let your friends know (by posting on their Steam profile wall) of the story behind Hookups and the exploitative practices and hidden agenda of it's owner. Encourage them to leave the group and spread the word in the same way. If we all committed to doing this we could have a collective impact on things!

Edit: I got banned from the group lol. No surprise there. Truthfully, it actually happened shortly before I made this thread, when I simply posted "Agree 100%" as a reply to someone who left a comment in the group regarding the subscription fee poll. So, you see how it is.

1 decade ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

Fuck him. He already lied to everyone by secretly posting referral links. I mean,there is nothing wrong but he wasn't transparent about it.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Remember his entire staff quit a few months ago when they found out the stuff he was doing behind the scenes. That to me speaks volumes.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

What I mean is, if he wants to post referral links to get games as compensation for his time and effort and for being the group owner, it's fine with me as long as there is a referral and non-referral link posted. But he lied about it. That is not fine with anyone.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I would agree with that. In fact I told him those months ago that I thought it was okay if he got some free games for his efforts. The whole referral link business and not being upfront and honest about money that he is pocketing, along with whatever else he had/has going on behind the scenes is very shady and exploitative though.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That final option on the first picture. Oh, my god, I'm laughing so hard, I'm crying.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

'Let's be as unsubtle as possible that I want your money'

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

In case it vanishes, I feel the results of the poll must be known.

Edit: And it vanished. Good to grab this then.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks! I was wondering what the results of that would be.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

lol

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There are sites that do it better than his and they get money only through donations and referrals. I don't know why anyone would support him.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thank you for this xD

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm okay with that, I kinda want money too!
He's a bit of a twat for making the poll THAT biased though.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

As with what was discussed last time, the issue was never really about the money, but the lying about where the money really went to.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

But everyone want free money, even if they do it in hard way

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

at least he didn't split the "no"s so it came out with a yes having the highest total(and then used that total as the chart displayed instead of treating the nos together). I've seen polls do that

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This group is newer than Hookups and they are not asking for anything in return. The service they provide is the same as Hookups.

The owner even made it clear which one is his GMG referral link.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

why dont they have clickable links in the announcements? otherwise, yes thats an amazing improvement honestly... way more deals posted

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

done, if he start doing that, itll be perfect.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Because they've had problems in the past with Steam Admins labeling the links as spam and removing the link and game title so you end up with :

Awesome deals on the following games:
[SPAM LINKS ARE NOT ALLOWED]
[SPAM LINKS ARE NOT ALLOWED]
[SPAM LINKS ARE NOT ALLOWED]
[SPAM LINKS ARE NOT ALLOWED]

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

"Funny Steam is Funny"

The admins raging because their links got removed, some of which most likely were referral links. The later go on to say that because their links were removed, they weren't going to post links at all in the future until they find a more "permanent way".

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I hate wasting stress!

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

LMAO!

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Advertising, begging and posting referral links are not allowed on Steam: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810
Does anyone have reported this person or group?

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Even if that isn't enough, surely it's against the rules to have people pay $$$ for access to a Steam group?

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I think the idea was to move things over to a hosted website.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

And using bots to mass-invite people to his group was against the TOS too.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yea... I remember that.. I was spammed big time with invites from several bots. I was one of the people who reported it lol.

Glad I never joined due to that. If I was invited by an actual person and not spammed I would have actually considered it.. but like I said, glad I never did especially with what I have read.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thx for letting me know o.o left it.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Seriously? Are the thousands of dollars or so he makes from shady referring not enough for him?

There's no end to this idiot's greed.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

"No, I just want to be selfish and don't give a crap if the people behind the deals have to waste a lot of time, effort, and stress by giving me deals"

LOL, moron.
Also reddit.com/r/GameDeals or reddit.com/r/GameDeals/.rss

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Basically, they just repost deal announcements so everyone in the group knows what game deals are going on when.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Why don't people just google/use slickdeals/use this site/indie bundle wiki/etc as opposed to dealing with a site like that?

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

cause these groups will steam announce deals and sometimes you might forget to check some deal sites but probably are always logged in to steam, so you wont miss the annnouncements unless afk

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No comment.

Suffice to say I left the group ASAP.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I was in the group but I never actually used it. Left it now... rather not inflate their member numbers. That poll just screams pretentious.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Joined the group a while back, never really used it, but the owner has come off as a total douche. I just left the group.

Just another example of how money can change people. I bet he thought "I got 29,000 members, if only 1,000 of them sign up for this, i can make $1,000 a month"

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I forgot to leave this group after the last fiasco. I'm out now.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

What an asshat. But Im not really even surprised. Thanks for the warning mate.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I notice the announcement has now vanished.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm still in the group, the consistent announcements are nice (that being said, does anybody know of a similarly consistent group?). But I never click a link if I don't have to, I go the long way about and find it myself. I have no interest in supporting this douche nozzle...

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

tradersguild, opium pulses, cheapshark (No longer a member so can't speak to current activity) to name a few.

Also, just go to isthereanydeal website

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Many of the original admin of Hookups now run their own deal finding group http://steamcommunity.com/groups/OpiumPulsesSavings

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Salenauts is my favorite right now. It's a daily announcement and very well laid out. xboxer's post (fourth post) has a link. I'm too lazy.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I joined them after the first drama post you made, but back then they used to announce 6-10 announcements a day and didn't listen to anyone asking them to stop, so I left. Now it seems they've chilled out a lot so I'm back in.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I have too many friends in that group! lol.

edit - In his poll, he makes it sound as if HE is giving people deals. Like he made the amazon deal, etc. All he is doing is copying and pasting them from other sources. I am shocked so many of you are a part of this group.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I don't understand... so he's using affiliate links for the games on amazon so he makes a slight cut of what you spend on them? It sounds like he's providing a service that people value and making money off of it at no additional cost to the people buying at the moment. If that is what is the case then he's making money for providing a service to Amazon, which he is. They have carefully determined that it's worth the money to get potential buyers that may not have otherwise bought from them. The fact that the affiliate links work on games that are on sale in the first place should be the first clue that there's nothing illegitimate about it. The subscription thing sounds silly, but on the amazon affiliate (not referral) links, you're basically saying that Amazon should spend its money how you believe would make sense, when you probably don't know the whole story of how it affects their profits or the details of their business strategies. Is there something I'm missing?

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

see my reply below

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Those that stay in the group don't really care about shady practices.
They just want the deals.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There are places that give you the same deals without the shady practices.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

people still in the group probably joined long ago when they were doing group giveaways with open entry to the group, and just never bothered to leave

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Left, cant remember the last time I actually used one of their deals.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This owner is a COMPLETE asshat. I asked a simple question and got permabanned from the chat.

http://gyazo.com/1598e5bddbac7df8d38b464708200a8d has the proof I was banned from it.

Plus he said this in the chat too: =^[(O){d_b}(O)]^=: I am sick of fighting alone
=^[(O){d_b}(O)]^=: http://www.steamgifts.com/forum/JAtCQ/owner-of-hookups-steam-group-wants-your-money
=^[(O){d_b}(O)]^=: ♫ Title: [Owner of Hookups Steam group wants your money] Version: [XHTML] Links: [97] Images: [2] Size: [35.91 KB]
=^[(O){d_b}(O)]^=: Go there and help me
alsetho is now playing Team Fortress 2. Click here to join.
=^[(O){d_b}(O)]^=: People think i am scamming or am scum of the earth

Now we know it's the truth.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

He tries to play the part of the victim but it's just a ruse.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I love how Sammy's constant bitching just digs deeper and deeper holes for himself.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I always find his pretentious requests for people to "fight for him" hilarious. If you're going to be a douche don't ask folks to stick up for you. He needs to own his douchiness all by himself. It's fun to see he's still going on his childish self righteous tirade. It's mildly entertaining watching him put his foot in his mouth. So glad I left, should have left back during his earlier issues with Kriss-C and the Traders Guild.

Well hindsight is 20/20.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I love the poll choices. It sounds so hokey. I also love the results xD

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

LOL

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

guys comeon... he's spending time on this. I dont know all the story but I think that you arent losing anything by going on his ref links and it gives motivation to the group.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

"I dont know all the story"

Then, err... read up on it? It's all been explained many times over. With links for you!

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

what i've been told is that he putted ref links to sales. What could change my opinion is if i'm not right about that it doesnt cost more from buying with his links that normal links.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The issue was more about him not being upfront and honest about where the money is/was going, as well as being unwilling to tell anyone (even his own previous staff members before they all quit) about how much it is/was. He had people doing the work of scouring for deals and putting together announcements for him, and then he would go in later after the fact and edit their posts to put in his own referral links, which they understandably took issue with when they found out. That's just the tip of the iceberg as they say. If you want to know more you can always read up in the link above.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Why inquire about something, when you can state your opinion on the abstract idea you did about it in your head, before knowing what you're talking about?

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

just readed the whole thing and it doesnt actually change my opinion. IF he did it, the worse we can say about him is that he decided that everything was going to him while he couldve gave some to his staff but yeah, he started the thing and everyone could leave or stay, they made their choices and i think that he just decided to get the money he thought he couldve got sooner.

but yeah, you guys are too sensible from what i see... actually he only grabed what was his from source but i have to admit that he couldve gave some credits to his staffs...

Aren't ref links made to benefit the one that share it?

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

"Aren't ref links made to benefit the one that share it?"

Usually ref link benefit the owner, who isn't always the same person that share it.
So if for example you post a link to something and I edit your message to instead use my ref. link, the one who will receive the the money is me.

1 decade ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 1 decade ago by Shad0WeN.