4 years ago*

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Should SG automate giveaway deletions?

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Yes
No
Potato or potatoe?

oh this idea would be good for certain giveaways like groups where you need to reroll but they either need to agree or you need proof they aren't in the group anymore which causes a lot of hassle

4 years ago
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Seriously... since when have SG actually done anything new on this site apart from the lame-ass wishlist thing last week?

4 years ago
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What wishlist thing happened last week?

I thought the last thing done to the site was the new way of looking up SG users by SteamID64, according to the change log?

4 years ago
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Yeah that thing. Time flies when you're not using the new features XD

4 years ago
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Finding friends from steam on SG?

4 years ago
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I miss little quality of life things like SG linkies and ESGST adding more menu options - like accessing the list of hidden games with two clicks, quicklinks for the more useful topics and such.

4 years ago
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Your proposed solution which I support, would require at least two additional things not covered here:

The only reason the GA creator in this case still has to put in the (automatic) request for deletion AFTER winner marks it is because they may want to try to resolve the GA issue before wanting deletion, is that correct? If not, the request could actually be triggered directly by the GA winner.

This new third GA option for winners should result in no impact on any user stats or group user stats, comparable to if they had selected "not received".

Giveaways which have received no entries appear to already be addressed (deleted) by an automated process

To be clear: Any giveaway with no entries is NOT automatically deleted, otherwise all "closed" (ended) GAs without any entries would have "(deleted)" in red next to it like actual deleted GAs.
A giveaway ending with no entries causes that GA slot become immediately available for the creator, but that is different from GA deletion.

4 years ago*
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4 years ago
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I am referring to giveaways with no entries, where a deletion request is made BEFORE the GA ends. Have you ever done this?

Ah, I misunderstood your statement.

Yes, I have deleted a few GAs before they end with 0 or non-0 entries, and they all get automatically deleted regardless of # of entries.

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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I can see the potential issue of abuse if a giveaway creator wants to gift something to one friend, and receive CV on SG for it. By organizing together with 4 other friends who are in on the "scam", couldn't they all automate re-rolls until the desired user is the winner?

I would think 1 automated re-roll per giveaway might be a great feature though, and any additional re-rolls for the same giveaway would have to go through support in an effort to ensure there is no foul play involved.

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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Oh, my bad. I haven't had much sleep last night.

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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Not quite yet, but hopefully I can catch up on sleep tonight. I'm beginning to be in a permanent state of sleep deprivation. ;_;

4 years ago
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if a key doesn't work

the giveaway creator should replace the key instead of asking people permission to delete it. 🤷

4 years ago
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4 years ago*
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there's always an option (the best one). you can get a new key for your winner.
that's what a responsible sg user is expected to do, according to the ToS everyone agreed with when they started using this site. 🤷

Responsibility of Contributors.
If you post giveaways to the Website, you will be entirely responsible for providing an unused Steam redeemable gift or unused Steam redeemable key (gift or key, further known as "Gift") to a user ("Winner"), who is randomly generated by the Website for each gift represented by your giveaway. You warrant that:

  • within 7 days of the giveaway ending, you will use reasonable efforts to send the Gift to the Winner using the Website services, or the e-mail address the Winner has provided;
4 years ago
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4 years ago*
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i'm assuming people can wait 3-4 days for a reroll or deletion. automating this only encourages people to do whatever they want despite what rules say.

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when someone breaks the rules it doesn't matter if it's a lv1 or lv10 user, it's the same for everyone.
in my case there was a misunderstanding and the suspension was lifted.

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4 years ago
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The Responsibility of Contributors section was written, I reckon, before developers began revoking keys willy-nilly, and was reasonable at that time. That's just no longer the case.

Looking at my experience on the site, 100% of my (very few) bad keys have in fact been unused.

4 years ago
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all my 4-5 bad keys were also unused and from reputable or semi-trustable sources (fanatical, the old trash-gogobundle, even humble bundle).
i did what was expected from me and traded new keys. i'm not rich, but i can afford $1 to fulfill a promise.

4 years ago
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4 years ago*
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+1

I have several instances where I giveaway a Steam key from an old bundle, the devs actually revoked all unused keys. It is virtually impossible for me to gift the game to the winner, since my Steam store is region-restricted, and there is no where else to obtain a legit ROW key.

One example:
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/zUdmm/days-under-custody-from-indiegala-bundle-revoked

4 years ago
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I agree that there are areas of SG that can be more streamlined, and that support can take time to resolve issues. However, you are making an assumption that a majority of supports time is taken up granting deletions - this does not appear to be supported by the site stats.

Deletions - 1.4%
Re-rolls - 1.9%
Unsuspend - 45.6%

Obviously this isn't a true reflection of time spent, as maybe support just ignore unsuspend requests (hence why there are more open than any other type)! But in order to speed up your request for deletion perhaps you should be asking to automate unsuspend requests in some way.

Having said that I do think there are cases where deletion of completed giveaways could be treated the same as uncompleted giveaways. I see the following legitimate reasons for a deletion (i.e. that would be approved by support):

  1. Key is bad
  2. Key for wrong game (winner keeps wrong game if not already on their account)
  3. Gift not wanted AND winner sole entrant to giveaway (otherwise this would be a re-roll)
  4. Key unredeemable (i.e. region locked) (re-roll would not be approved in this case)

There should still be a penalty for deletion, loss of a giveaway slot; so someone 'scamming' will probably soon run out of slots.

4 years ago
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this does not appear to be supported by the site stats.

Deletions - 1.4%

Re-rolls - 1.9%

Unsuspend - 45.6%

I disagree, because this is the number of outstanding tickets, which tells us nothing about the number of tickets by category worked by Support over any time period:

The total number of support tickets that are currently open in each category.

Therefore, it is incorrect to assume that all tickets are closed in equal proportion between all categories - Do we even have ancedotal proof of that?

Consider this: Deletions after GA end (because deletions before GA end are automated) perhaps only involve a little investigation, maybe a message to the winner, and approval of deletion, so Support can work them faster than unsuspend requests that would require significant investigation and potentially internal deliberation with other support & mod members. On top of that, for all we know support prioritizes reroll and deletion requests above all others, and I wouldn't blame them for doing so.

My anecdotal experience conflicts with the "closed in equal proportion" theory: All my reroll requests and an "add game to list" request have been answered in ~24 hours or less, but a User Report and some "Other" type requests took one month or longer.

4 years ago
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this is the number of outstanding tickets

I know, I pretty much conceded that in my next sentence:

Obviously this isn't a true reflection of time spent

I was trying to reference the only stats I knew of to prop up my flimsy argument.

I think my points still stands, which is that the OP is making a leap from 'moderators seem busy' (presumably because they experienced one or more slow deletion approvals) to stating the solution is 'automate deletions'.

Only support staff and moderators really know what would help them do their job best. We are just speculating here.

4 years ago
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4 years ago*
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We are just speculating here

so very true.

let me speculate a lil' more:
that Unsuspend % is something that always make me thinks, a little. 'cause reading "unsuspend" also reminds me of their (Support staff) Steam profiles. and that's the awfulest way to resolve a problem (granted that you've have reasons to ask to get unsuspended).

that's an "old" thing of mine, since first months i was here. aaand still a thing. like, leave those profiles alone, SteamGifts.com is the only right place.
sooo still not cute, if you ask me! (<-- never do that)

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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Not always true. I got suspended once for winning a dlc and had to apply for reinstatement. When I showed proof via imgur that the key have been activated and the DLC was in my account they unsuspended me. However, this can take time if there is a backlog. With the number of giveaways of DLC and suchlike, I suspect there are quite a few cases of mistaken identity due to SG not being able to recognise those games/DLC content.

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4 years ago
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kinda tempting, from here.
still a no, thou.

i'd also say i do think the whole SG is "good", just like as it is.
there's room for improvements? yes. but i see no problems -for us, the members- as per tickets and support requests times.

if the giveaway is still running (whatever the number of entries): you can delete max 20 giveaways per day, each deletion takes a "ticket", automated but still a ticket. imo, 20 is really enough.

when GA ends, then, being a member is not enough anymore. you need more "powers" to handle the problem. and Support jumps in.
and again, imo, this is enough. and it's also working good. even if little fixes here and there, new functions and updates are really really welcome, as usual... :D

that said, interesting suggestion/thread!

4 years ago
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I'm agree with Mully, giveaway creator should provide another key in case if the one in giveaway does not works...
But I'm a realist. Giveaways are deleted for that reason, and forbidding this way to resolve the issue could only lead to outrage. And if this practice already exist - it should be automated. Even if it's a small percent of support ticket, there is still no reason for real support members to spend time on it. Also, I can't think of any way to abuse this feature if it will be ever implemented. So, my answer is yes, it would be nice to have this feature.
As a side note - giveaways, deleted like this, should also remove one giveaway slot from creator, the same as deletion of giveaways in progress do. This slot penalty is there for a reason, and I believe this reason is the same for giveaways that already ended.

4 years ago
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think that's good.
But I think it's bad.

If I'm a devil, as a bad game developer, I will spread a lot of Steam keys.
And, get winner email address information.
And, "I'm sorry! As predicted! There were people who couldn't redeem well! Delete GA!" : D
A nightmare with no footprints is born.
It can also be horrible if the SG user's account, which has been giving lots of gifts, is hacked.

If this feature is implemented, keep in mind that each person needs self-defense in order to adhere to the rules for registering a "valid email address".

I am too worried?
Doesn't the support ticket punk after abuse?
All right? Was good.(´・Θ・`)

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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Your list seems complete. I think "In each case there was only 1 entry and a reroll is not possible" oversimplifies the real root causes behind each reason you have listed:

Deletion reasons # 1, 6, 7, and 8 only occur when a reroll is not possible (with only 1 entry or no rerolls remaining), or maybe if for some strange reason the gifter doesn't want to reroll.
Reasons # 2, 3, 4 are essentially a gifter's plea deal with the winner to prevent the gifter from getting a "Not Received" mark, despite reasons # 3 and 4 violating guidelines regarding gifter due diligence for Creating Giveaways.
Reason # 5 is for the sake of gifter CV for non-public GAs due to gifter's decisions on scope of GA and not deleting before it ended.

  1. The GA has less than 5 entries and creator asks for winner to agree to delete GA because they get no SG CV value

Deleting a GA BEFORE it ends due to CV & entries is one thing and more understandable: A while back I had a poll & thread asking what people think of gifters who delete GAs before they end because of <5 entries, and the community was kinda split on the topic, but I don't recall anyone bringing up this scenario of some gifters with <5 entries request deletion AFTER end of GA.

But deletion AFTER a GA ended due to CV & entries? Those aren't even a selectable reason for deletion, and there are so many things a gifter could have done to prevent <5 entries, including deleting the GA BEFORE it ends. Actually, they could select "Did Not Understand How the Site Works", because they clearly need to learn to delete a GA before it ends or post it to (large) enough groups/whitelists/regions that it doesn't become an issue in the first place :P

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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You consider them more understandable because the entrant doesn't lose any SG points for entering?

It helps, but I also find pre-end deletions far less misleading in general, and SG's implied acceptable reasons for deleting GAs are more plausible before a GA ends such as:

How do I delete a giveaway if I create one by accident, if I select incorrect information while setting it up, or if the gift is no longer available?

Some other food for thought - Not necessarily a view I hold:

If a gifter doesn't put in a giveaway description "Please agree to deletion of the giveaway if there are <5 entries", but after GA ends they ask you to agree to this or else, considering that such a deletion reason isn't in the FAQ or even deletion reasons, couldn't that be considered a "Misleading Giveaway" that could result in a suspension of ~3 days, especially if the gifter is unwilling to reveal the key?

I suppose this hypothetical lies in the eye of the (Support) beholder given that the FAQ and Support ticket deletion reasons is all we common members have to go off of.

4 years ago
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Maybe add a option to refuse a gift and have this stat then prominently displayed on the user profile.

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4 years ago
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Closed 1 year ago by boloxer.