Games that were featured in a bundle have an asterisk (a star; this > * < ) in the drop down box - you can see it when you create a giveaway.

While it is true that there is no explanation when you create a giveaway, this has already been requested, so it should hopefully be only a matter of time, until cg implements a disclaimer ;)

There's a thread, explaining how the contributor value is calculated, based on bundle and non-bundle games.
Also, bundle games that were given away before they were featured in a bundle receive full contributor value - but as you already mentioned, you can never tell in what form a game will be given away afterwards, so even tradeable copies will be considered "bundle" games, once they were featured in a bundle.

I think there are still people who give away games for the sake of being nice, rather than to increase their contributor value, so this might not be a big problem.
On the other hand more and more people moved their giveaways to private groups - one of the reason might be the increase of "idiots" on this site, that fail to read the FAQ and trade away the games they win, or make fake giveaways - another reason could be the increased chance to win a game in a group.

Actually I think that the system was transparent for you, which is where the confusion arose. Anyway the point of this site is to be generous, not to hoard contributor points. I'm not really sure why this is even an issue for you or why it would prevent anyone from making giveaways in the future.

* <---

Look for that. It's not as if the site is designed to trick you or anything. If you think a disclaimer is necessary, file a support ticket to make a suggestion. As for some of your other concerns, many people have plenty enough regular value to allow them to give away games that have been in bundles when they can pick them up as normal (e.g. when on sale or the like). Also, just pick up some things during sales to make giveaways with. Tons of good games go 75% off during sales. In addition to getting 4x the value of every dollar you spend that way (even just $5 or $10 here and there adds up), you basically get your bundle contributions freed up 1-for-1, so you really get 5x your contribution until your bundle value is all accounted for. It's not as if it's lost forever, just be patient and give what you can when you can. You'd be surprised how quickly it can add up.

99 keys? wooohoooo :O
you can always give away full bundles if you have em so it will add to your contribution value

That's actually 50%...

But yeah, just give games in full or don't give bundle games at all. Reason being is that you have 99 keys so they're easily obtained to boost contributor value. It's unfair to other people who give away games that aren't in bundles and are at full price vs Bundle games that are cheap, but they WERE accounted for full price before.

LONG LIVE THE SHIP !!

It took away contributions for me. Any of the games I've gifted here have either been in my inventory or is from IGN Prime. Pretty shitty thing to do.

I know that there is a limit on bundle gifts, but also when an item's price is permanently reduced the contributor points are recalculated.

So, if someone has given more bundle gifts than allowed by points, can they then get those points by giving away more non-bundle games later?

Here is a list of all the games that are in bundles and is updated every bundle: Bundle List

The contributor is not lost, you just need to give away more games that are not bundled games, you can only have up to 20% + 30$ that are considered bundled, so if you gave away 100$ of non bundled games you can have another 20$ of bundled games. The contributor value is not lost, just hidden for now

It's not a contest, mate. Give shit away because you want to give shit away, not because you want to stroke your e-penis with your contributor score.

Not to mention this whole thing was added specifically for discouraging people from buying 99 cheapass bundle keys and bullshitting the system with them. If you want to give away your keys, just do it. Just don't expect to get rewarded for it.

An asterisk or any footnote is typically an indicator. I'd normally look into it when I see one.

I'm curious how you weren't aware these are bundle games? If they're in key form, you most likely purchased them. Unless you're accepting keys in trades, which it'll only be a matter of time until someone gives you an invalid or duplicate code.

As for the FAQ, we've been waiting for a few months now.

I am in the same boat. I gave away three tradeable copies of torchlight (after hib6 ended, at that) before I realized I wasn't getting contrib points for them. I didn't know what the asterisk meant. (I looked for a footnote at the bottom of the page. There isn't one.) I don't expect anyone would that makes a giveaway for the first time.

I don't give away games strictly for the contrib points, but I do find myself irked when I can't enter $100 contrib giveaways but the value of my giveaways is over $100 if they were full credit.

You care too much about Contribution points. Give away gifts to be generous, don't do it for something in return.

I will close the topic now - my questions are answered and my confusion is over...

...I would like to thank everyone helping constructively build some knowledge around this matter and say a "shame on you" to everybody who tried to push this topic into the wrong light. I would have liked to keep this open a little bit longer, but some poeple simply can't comment without beeing offensive.