Private messaging

A more direct line with moderators which could help fix issues with the site or (rarely) report toxic behaviour

Open a ticket

Create an opportunity for members to converse with each other and form friendships

There's Steam chat from SG group

A opportunity to invite each other to groups or bond over shared interests in games

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussions/group-recruitment

To speak with people that have done giveaways you have entered if there is any issues that need to be addressed

You can comment in the giveaways you have entered and the creator will receive an alert

Typically you do it by commenting on one of their old giveaways or adding them on steam

Currently, Message(comment) can be made to completed Giveaways created by SG members.

　And, there is no problem if these messages are one-offs.
However, if a member sends an unwanted message, we will issue a warning or caution to the gentleman, and if he still does not stop, we will contact support.

On top of these current exchanges...

Adding some sort of message sending/receiving functionality would be a messy affair that would force the support staff to monitor every message.

The functionality you want is itself a problem that can be largely solved by using Steam chat and groups.
Valve has the staff to deal with the aforementioned nuisances, SG does not. I would prefer an easy alternative to a practically difficult means.

A more direct line with moderators which could help fix issues with the site or (rarely) report toxic behaviour

This already exists. There's a whole support system in place that does this and more.

Create an opportunity for members to converse with each other and form friendships

That phrasing is a bit awkward but, assuming you meant "better facilitate friendship formation through the site beyond existing interaction formats without the utilization of outside communication methods", then as Kappaking noted, you can use existing public giveaways for that. It lacks privacy, but if it's a conversation that requires privacy you can always request the user switch to a different medium. If they don't have an existing giveaway, well.. respond to one of their forum posts and give them a free game you have a spare key for. Though that'd get them on Steam anyway, so..

It's not completely efficient, but the gains of introducing a messaging system relative to the downsides of the present method are extremely minimal, given the existence of alternative, easily accessible, reliably existant communication methods (ie, Steam).

A opportunity to invite each other to groups or bond over shared interests in games

Isn't that what the Let's Play, Groups, etc categories are for? I'm rather confused what you're promoting here, in contrast to what already exists.

To speak with people that have done giveaways you have entered if there is any issues that need to be addressed

I... am completely baffled by this request. You most definitely can already do this, simply by replying to the giveaway in question. In fact, you're supposed to, not only because it's the appropriate location and form of response to an issue, but as it's the first place staff checks when there's an issue is the comments of the giveaway in question. If the user has you blacklisted or you otherwise don't have the ability to comment in the giveaway anymore, then that's almost always intentional. Thus, you trying to contact them outside of that location is only going to aggravate the relationship between you and the GA creator. If you do need to report an issue, just put in an "Other" support ticket and have staff contact the GA creator on your behalf.

On top of the shortcomings already mentioned, there's a lot of backend stuff to a messaging system, and it's a demand on sserver resources. Unless there's an actual clear benefit to its addition, it's not going to be added. Moreover, at heart, SG is a giveaway faciliation system for outside groups and websites, as well as for the forum community. Beyond that, it's simply a giveaway site.

Thus, what you're asking for is specifically an expansion of the forum system, rather than of SG on the whole [ie, this doesn't benefit the core aims or structure of SG, just enhances a specific aspect of the site, much like userscripts do]- and if that's the aim, then you could presumably just approach it like SGTools does, and create and integrate an outside website with SG. Thus, to repeat, it's extremely unlikely that cg would introduce a native messaging system, given its demands, its auxillary nature, and its ability to be created and supported by a third party if demand does end up being suitable for its introduction.

To frame that a bit more clearly, keep in mind that cg doesn't typically expand on non-auxillary aspects of the site unless those expansions are minor, and even then the expansions tend to take years to be introduced. Typically, the expectation is that if it can be handled by an outside source, it won't be handled through the site itself.

Please note that if at any point my tone appears overly critical of your discussion points, it's not intended. Where I'm indicating that I'm confused, that's a completely sincere assertion. Please do feel comfortable expanding on any points you feel weren't properly understood.

I'm all for it 👍 Won't happen though.

No idea why folks are preaching the current way we go about it... Like it's top tier, with no room for improvement.

More reasons to hate people for spamming? Please, no.

I have had a few people COMPLAIN to me on my old giveaways.
But guess what? I've hardly ever had anyone wanting to have a nice conversation that way.

So for me, private messaging? Why not just add them on Steam instead. If you get denied, they're not worth messaging in the first place.
Steam groups are also for "bonding". There's also that discord thing.

You're welcome to start a discussion if you want friends. Many people have done that before.

We don't have enough mods and they clearly don't put in enough time to get through all the tickets as fast as people would like, so no, I don't think it would be a good idea for users to be able to send messages to the mods and make their time here even harder. If I was a mod, I wouldn't even want the support tag next to my name because I would be afraid that every time I posted a comment, people would be asking me support questions and I wouldn't have the time to respond to them. I would feel bad ignoring them or telling them that I don't have time to respond.

Everyone on this site has a Steam account. If you want to be closer friends and talk to someone, add them on Steam.

There is a group recruitment section for getting people to join your group. If you just want to add one specific person, add them on Steam and ask them or just open and old giveaway here and post a comment on that giveaway. Sending them a comment on an old giveaway will not bother anyone because they are the only person that will get notified of the comment and nobody else will see it unless they decide to go back through that user's old giveaways and read the comments. If it is something you do not want to say publicly, then again, add them on Steam.

If you need to talk with a giveaway creator about an issue with a giveaway, why wouldn't you post directly on the giveaway? The next time they check the site, they will get a notification that you sent them a message and they can respond on the giveaway. It is good to keep that conversation on the giveaway page anyway incase you need to get support involved. If there is something you don't want to post publicly, again, add them on Steam.

Certainly yes, but with the option to disable it, if a person is not interested in getting any messages