So you want to create public GAs, but you don't want bots and auto-join scripts to enter? Good. Just post a comment in this thread with a link to an invite-only giveaway. The idea is very simple and is really not different from many (most?) of the other threads in the forum, except that you don't need to invest much time or thought into it. Just post the link in a comment, and you're done :-)

A few additional guidelines:

  • Feel free to obfuscate the link to make it more difficult for bots/scripts to enter. This is completely optional and may not make much of a difference, because the forums are probably not as infested with bots and auto-join scripts as public giveaways (see example).
  • You may use itstoohard.com, sgtools.info or other sites as filters to the link, but do try to keep things easy (for humans) to enter.
  • Don't feel obligated to write anything to accompany the giveaway link. If you have stuff to share beyond just the link, you probably should create a dedicated thread for it. Needless to say, you can also write it here, but it's not required.
  • Cross-posting giveaways your posted in other threads is fine, as long as they are your giveaways.
  • If you want to add a dynamic signature showing the game name, giveaway end date and current number of entries, but without revealing the URL to bots, you can use this tool created by Reforced. It takes the signature created by SG and provides you with a new URL that hides the original giveaway address. Just add it to your comment using the regular format for posting images: ![](URL)
  • Just like public GAs typically have a lot of entries, there's no need to maintain a low number of entries in GAs posted here. If you want to give especially good odds to people who enter and still get CV, you may want to instead consider posting the link here (and then remove it when you have your 5 entries). This is not needed here in this thread. The more (humans) the merrier :-)
  • The best way to bump this thread is by posting a link to your own invite-only giveaway. With that said, if the thread drops from the first page a regular "Bump" would also be appreciated.

I'm trying to find how serious the issue with bots really is. So far the results don't really prove things one way or another. Here are some stats from my latest experiment:

Game: Space Trader: Merchant Marine
Number of giveaways: 5
Period: 3 days

Giveaway # Level Type Number of entries Winner's Sent:Won Reroll needed?
1 Level 0+ Public 891 0:82 No
2 Level 0+ Invite only, direct link 55 4:47 No
3 Level 0+ Invite only, SGTools (no restrictions) 48 6:71 No
4 Level 0+ Invite only, shortened URL, captcha-free 50 1:205 No
5 Level 0+ Invite only, shortened URL with "I'm not a robot" captcha 54 162:86 No

Yet some more stats:

Giveaway game Period Level Type Number of entries Winner's Sent:Won Reroll needed?
Tales from the Void 5 days Level 0+ Public 755 0:37 No
Tales from the Void 5 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 183 42:514 No
Hyper Box 4 days Level 0+ Public 554 0:32 No
Hyper Box 4 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 193 178:188 No
Ace Combat Assault Horizon 3 days Level 0+ Public 1596 0:28 Yes
Ace Combat Assault Horizon 3 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 234 88:107 No
7 years ago*

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Bump :)

7 years ago
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Automated bump by someone that is not a bot!
This bump is sponsored by Nuka-Cola: Drink more, become thinner. This bump is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with Steamgifts.

View attached image.
7 years ago
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bump

7 years ago
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Bumperino, thankerino!

7 years ago
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HAHAHA, AS A HUMAN, I APPRECIATE THIS DISCUSSION THREAD.

7 years ago
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HELLO FELLOW HUMAN! I AM ALSO A HUMAN. LET US SPEAK OF THINGS US HUMANS ENJOY, SUCH AS SPORTS, OR THE ORGANIC MATTER WE REGULARLY SHOVE IN OUR FACE HOLE AND CONVERT TO ENERGY.

(P.S. THE MEATBAGS SUSPECT NOTHING!)

7 years ago
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    while !giveawayFound() {
        beUnhappy();
    }
    enterGiveaway();
    beHappy();
    exit(0);
7 years ago
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🤖 ROBOT328 REPORTING FOR DUTY 🤖
🤖 SALUTATIONS FELLOW HUMANS 🤖 THE WEATHER IS QUITE PLEASANT ON THIS EQUINOX DAY 🤖
N8BZG-0R5_M-GG6J2 _ = Q_Q

🤖

7 years ago
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Thank you very much for the freebie :)

7 years ago
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Now bots only have to parse this thread to autojoin giveaways with higher chances to win, yay!!

7 years ago
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Good luck doing that when everyone uses a different obfuscation method...

Also, even with the better chances it's probably not worth the effort to customize bots/scripts compared to just entering public GAs a minute before they end, and doing it 24x7.

What I wrote above is non-sense. See the comment below from cbones109 for how this actually works.

7 years ago*
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Why one minute before they end ?

7 years ago
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I could be wrong (don't enter many GAs), but don't you get points back when an entered GA ends? If so, entering right before a GA ends would maximize points re-generation.

Edit: I was totally wrong. See the comment below from cbones109 for how this actually works.

7 years ago*
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no, my understanding is points are generated every 15 minutes based on the GAs created in the prior 15 minutes

EDIT: source

7 years ago
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This is good to know. Thanks for the link! <3

7 years ago
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No points are given back, that would be too easy ;)

7 years ago
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Yes, I understand this now. So it's actually the opposite of what I wrote - to maximize points consumption, one should enter GAs as soon as they are created, not close to when they are about to end.

7 years ago*
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I think you're confusing everyone. You can't "maximize" generation. Points are generated regardless of what or when you enter a giveaway. The best you can accomplish is to make sure you have points sufficiently under 300 that it won't fill you back to 300 on the next generation.

For example, if every 15 minutes you enter enough giveaways to keep your points at or around 100* it's highly unlikely you'll reach 300. It doesn't matter if you enter a giveaway as soon as it's created or 1 minute before it ends. What matters is that you keep your point balance low enough.

  • I use 100 as that gives you enough to jump on any high-value games that may pop up with a 1-hour timer.
7 years ago*
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Good point. I replaced "maximize points generation" with "maximize points consumption".

7 years ago
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By the way my both giveaways just ended. Thanks for good time folks! :)

7 years ago
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Human winners? ;-)

7 years ago
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I hope so :]

7 years ago
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you mean bot giveaways ? ;)
coincidence ? i bot think so

7 years ago
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bump :)

7 years ago
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bump

7 years ago
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uh no. Why must you do this to me? :[

7 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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The part after the giveaway code is ignored by the server, so there's no need for people (or bots) to replace it. If you want to obfuscate the URL you need to make the changes to the part to the left of /lotus...

7 years ago
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Interesting to learn.

I am curious how many will join

7 years ago
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what if he do it this way ?
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/FelVY

7 years ago
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this works and is easier then some wrong link as you can open the link and then change the url and don't need to do it before

7 years ago
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Bump now!
Links later!

7 years ago
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Bump great thread :D

7 years ago
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Lets try to be more terra-incognita-chapter-one-the-descendant than my last entry here

I like the ones posting just the 5 key characters v7yGf, but being a programmer those are really easy to recognize in text, and there is no penalty for wrong guesses.

In the old days, we used rot13 to encode raunchy jokes, Caesar might have been shocked.

Looks like it is still used: http://rot13.com

Sweet nostalgia, like Unix fortunes "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations."

7 years ago
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what

7 years ago
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Use rot13 on the 5 key characters above and substitute them into standard SG giveaway URL

7 years ago
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I think it remains to be seen if bots/scripts are actually used to find giveaways in forum threads, and how widespread the issue is compared to public giveaways. It may be a non-issue and obfuscation can be skipped. This is why I posted both obfuscated and non-obfuscated giveaways, and will continue to do so until I get some sense about the severity and frequency of this issue.

As for recognizing 5 characters key, yes, if you just move the location it's easy to find those programmatically. But there are many creative ways to obfuscate, and I don't think it's worthwhile for the script developer to constantly update it to handle every new method that users come up with.

7 years ago
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i think there is a temp blockade after some number of wrong entries
ive read this somewhere over forum

7 years ago
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9 entries, wow... thats a new record for that specific game (from what i have seen with my measly lvl 0) and i came 3 hours too late to enter. xD

7 years ago
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Bump :3

7 years ago
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View attached image.
View attached image.
7 years ago
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wait, what? i don't understand how to enter these :D

7 years ago
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Hover over the image and behold the magical code!

7 years ago
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Nice! Had me confused for a moment too :-)

7 years ago
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Magic!

7 years ago
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good idea

7 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

7 years ago
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For the moment...

More to be added later

View attached image.
7 years ago
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that last question is easier to solve for a computer than for a human

7 years ago
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That's why I've used google to tell me the answer :D

7 years ago
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me too

7 years ago
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But, but, what happened to the calculator? 🙃👀

7 years ago
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Google calculator? :D

7 years ago
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Better than a train! :-)

7 years ago
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Need the help of a robot to solve the last question. cuz im human, a regular human XD

7 years ago
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I think a more human way of answering the last question would be "I don't know" :)

7 years ago
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Discrimination!
I can't help it you want to be Terminated.

7 years ago
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But I am a bot D:

7 years ago
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I failed.

Do you have a brain?

No.

Wrong!

7 years ago
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Are you a bot?
Yes!

Failed the test and got expelled from 27 giveaways :( (that i came to too late anyway)

7 years ago
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Thanks for the giveaways, I like the idea of this thread

7 years ago
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The Walking Dead: Season 1

Requirements to enter:

  1. Have the game wishlisted earlier than today and have in total no more than 300 games on your wishlist.
  2. Have ratio that's not terrible and have no history of rule breaking. Alternatively, those who haven't won anything yet can also enter, regardless of giving anything.

(also added instead of the Reserved post)

View attached image.
7 years ago*
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The wishlist thing is a bit unfair :( Why not set a minimum contributor level instead?

7 years ago
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The fact that Level 0 users who haven't won anything can enter this GA should tell you contribution level is not the main thing here, but rather that users actually want this game and not just add one to their library. In fact, I'm considering to reduce the wishlist size limit from 500 to 300 to increase the likelihood that this will be achieved.

Edit: Wishlist siz limit reduced from 500 to 300.

7 years ago*
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My wishlist is so large that I wouldn't get into either of those. O.O

7 years ago
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BTW, you may want to know, but so far the users who entered gave 506, 75 and 227 games, so I don't think contribution level would be an issue (even if it was a requirement).

7 years ago
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I should really use my wishlist more

7 years ago
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BUMP

7 years ago
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I think you have this wishlisted ;-)

7 years ago
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ty bru. I really appreciate the chance

7 years ago
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Bump.

7 years ago
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