As a Scot, I will accept the potatoes, but prefer some nice deep-fried pizza!
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If you're ever in Scotland, please take the chance. My partner is Canadian (hence why I live here) and thought it looked disgusting, he was happily proven wrong.
It can be quite greasy though. I'd recommend getting a 'pizza supper' that's the deep fried pizza with chips (fries). I'd recommend only cheese flavour and not the 'pizza crunch' pizza crunch means it has batter as opposed to just being fried, but you might as well try both since it's a personal taste!
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Deep fried pizza with fries... Because regular deep fried pizza isn't unhealthy enough? ;)
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If you're eating the deep-fried pizza, you're probably not worried about it though, in fairness ;P Pro-tip, mash the chips against the top of the gooey pizza and eat it that way for a fun new experience.
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Oh, you clearly don't know me, I would worry. I've never had deep fried pizza, but I'm sure if I did, with every bite I'd be thinking, "Omg, this is go good! And so bad for me! But so good! But so bad for me!"
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You just have to silence the health conscious voice with more pizza!
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It's recommended to thank for won giveaways, but not for every single giveaway that you enter.
There is no way to be sure if a bot won your giveaway. You can take some measures to prevent bots from entering, but that's all.
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Apparently, there are bots at every level, but be aware that since there are more low level users, there are a lot more bots, let's say from lvl 0, 1 and 2...
Then you still can use easy "puzzles" to require human actions like using sgtools or alter your links like this https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/3gOB7/elements-soundtrack , but these ways only work with invite only GA...
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Ah, thank you! I stopped at first when I saw people rarely did, but then I thought...hmm, it probably doesn't feel nice to give a game and get no thanks from those who get a chance, so I was divided!
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I think the best option, apart for the case where you are actually the winner, is to post a thank you only when you actually have a little something more to say. I mean, even if it's trivial, like "thank you I've been trying to win this one for ages", as long as it's not something you post 10 times a day. I once had someone who posted like 20 thanks, in 20 of my GAs, with a different emoji, all in the same few seconds. So bot-ish ^^
Also, when the GA is more than around 5 copies, I apply the same policy (only thank you if I had some other comment, or if no other winner did thank yet), because making a GA with many copies does make the winning thanks a bit spammy too ^^
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Great advice to keep in mind.
I usually find myself getting caught up leaving longer comments. As you can tell, I talk too much :P
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It depends. I blacklist winners who don't even bother to post "thanks" for a won giveway.
I like people being polite, I'm handling it not only by posting a simple thanks but to at least write down some words to the creator.
I do comment almost every whitelist giveaway I enter because I am special to someone in the end, so they should feel that I appreciate that.
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See, this is partially why I'm confused, some people seem to like the thanks, others not so much. I don't think I'm on many whitelists if any, so that's not as much a concern. The whole whitelist thing is a little confusing to me, I prefer to give everyone a chance, but I can see how if you spend a lot of money giving games it can be frustrating to have bots or people who won't play winning.
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I agree with others here that it's polite to thank people for your wins. I always do. I appreciate it when people thank me, but I don't check and BL if they don't thank me.
This is because I do a lot of GAs (check my profile if you're bored), and checking them all would be time-consuming, not to mention that, while I certainly appreciate politeness, I'm not obsessed with it, either. Now, if someone is winning my GAs and never saying thanks, they're probably not going to end up on my whitelist, but that's a whole 'nother topic.
I actually don't prefer that people thank me for simply creating the GA. While I appreciate the sentiment, it means that my inbox gets flooded with 250-300 messages that simply say "thanks," and it's a pain to scroll through all of this, looking for the three "real" messages among all of this (again, see above comment about the volume of GAs that I do).
So that's my two cents' worth...hope it helps.
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I can definitely see that being a problem when you do so many giveaways! Thanks for being so generous. I'm definitely going to be careful about where I thank now, as the last thing I'd want to do is make something more stressful for someone, giveaways should be fun!
It helped a lot, thanks :)
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No worries...always glad to help out. Plenty of people shepherded me and answered all of my newbie questions when I first joined. Least I can do is return the favor. :)
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Don't you think that's kind of unfair? You don't even mention that in your GAs, as far as I can tell.. As you can see in this thread, it is not commonly expected to get a comment from everyone. It's like your own secret rule, and people get punished without even knowing about it.
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Sorry Arts, I missed the "won" part in the first post. I blacklist users for not posting a thank you after winning.
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And there are people who will blacklist everyone that comments on their giveaways because they can't stand the notifications "spam".
I used to say a "thank you" on every giveaway I entered, but nowadays I almost only do it on private/group/whitelist giveaways. If the giveaway creator as taken the time to write a description meant to engage with the community, then I will take the time to respond in public giveaways as well.
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Yea, sounds reasonable, I do it roughly like you. I tend to engage to people who brought something into the topic. ;)
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That sounds like a great plan, I'll start doing it like that from now on, hope I'm not on too many blacklists, whoops! Great appreciate the input here.
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Thanks! Apparently I'm already on 2 blacklists. Eep. Good to know! I do my best to be a decent person, but I'm sure I can be annoying to some people for sure!
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There's a plug in you can get for SG called ESGST, and one of the nice features it has is an ability to hide your Blacklist count, and it's honestly liberating. Because basically anything you do on SG could get you blacklisted. You thank people for their giveaways, they'll blacklist you. You don't thank people for their giveaways, they'll blacklist you. You start a thread asking for advice, they'll blacklist you. You engage in a discussion, they'll blacklist you. You say something that not everyone will agree with, they'll blacklist you. It's much easier just to hide it and not worry about it.
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I have this plugin! I will definitely consider hiding that option, though right now it's not bothering me so much. It's lovely to see how many people have whitelisted me, when I don't consider myself having done anything special!
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Well, I don't know about others, but I whitelisted you just for being so friendly, kind and polite. :) I feel like that's behaviour worth encouraging and rewarding.
And I found that the blacklist counter is a purely negative thing that you can't do anything about, purely un-constructive criticism, and I don't need that. I got blacklists for making a giveaway train, I got blacklists for supporting Pride Month and LGBT folks, I got blacklists for seemingly no reason at all. I understand it's there to encourage good behaviour, and to indicate to folks that are rude and abusive that they should change their behaviour, but a lot of people seem to use it as a "I disagree / don't like" button. Once I learned that I could hide it, I did so, and I feel better for having cut that useless negativity out.
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Awww, thank you so much. I also whitelisted everyone who helped or commented (though IDK if I'll use it). Certain areas of the internet really make you feel awful for showing any of those traits and I'm very aware it makes me look like a 'noob' or 'not cool', but the older I get, the less I care. Kind and polite is who I am! Not the whole enchilada, but a big bite of it.
You're absolutely right about the blacklist counter, it's awful to see it being abused, but there really isn't anything you can do about it, I will probably hide it.
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I WL'd you for being so friendly :) It's a nice thing to see around here
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Thank you so much! Everybody here seems so friendly, though I don't doubt there are some bad apples. Overall though, y'all are a lovely bunch. Whitelisted you back!
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And commenting if the creator asks for it is good too. Shows you are reading the descriptions...
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I always read the descriptions! Usually give a click or subscribe to support local creators too, it's the least I can do.
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If you win a giveaway you should thank the creator for the game, it's a nice thing to do and some people will blacklist you if you don't (like me for example).
However when it comes to posting "thanks" in giveaways simply for entering them then that's kinda annoying. I think good amount of giveaway creators including me think of those posts as needless spam, so I'd suggest against that.
Read the description of a giveaway, if the person says something interesting or asks a question you can comment on that. That way you show the person you read the description and that's nice. However if the description is blank or isn't anything worth commenting on, then just don't say anything unless you win.
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Hm, good to know. Some creators seem to genuinely like the 'thanks', but I can see how it could be annoying getting the notifications. The last thing I want is to offend someone who was nice enough to create a giveaway so I'm still totally torn on whether to do it or not. I think it's a little sad to see like 800 entries and 4 comments, but 800 comments would be insane so...that's probably how it's done around here! Thanks for the advice.
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I'd never realized saying "thanks" in a bunch of ga's could be seen as spam :O Thanks for the heads-up!
I guess I should only say it if it's for something I really wanted, a whitelist/small group ga, or if the description really warrants feedback And it probably shouldn't be a simple "thanks for the ga!" :/ Good to know.
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I personally don't expect a thanks, not even from the winner. Its certainly nice to get one, but not necessary. What I definitely won't do is blacklist people for that. I am not doing giveaways for the "thanks". And since I don't blacklist people for it, I also don't need to post instructions on my GAs ("post a thanks, or else!"). I always thought that if you instruct people to thank you, the thanks is not of real value then. It's not a nice thing anymore, just an obligation.
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I see both points of view. For me, I understand because even if you're not giving the giveaway for thanks, it does sting that the person received a nice prize (especially if it's an un-bundled or expensive game) and didn't think to even give a thanks, but requiring it does make it seem less genuine.
It also boggles my mind that someone wouldn't thank...like to me that's insane, but I also understand why some people wouldn't mind. For me, I'd personally like a thanks, just because it feels nice to know that someone is going to enjoy it and isn't just farming wins, but I also won't blacklist anyone over it.
I do love when people show excitement though. While I haven't won anything yet, someone gave me a free game the other day and I was so blown away and grateful, I probably came on way too strong. That's just who I am though.
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I'm not a bot!?
This picture says otherwise
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Hearing a thanks from a winner is nice, but not necessary - just like you said.
If it's a wishlisted GA, I personally, often thank the creator for the chance to win this.
You should only gift if you want to be nice and gift stuff and not to receive any sort of thanks or similar ( just my opinion tho.. )
and to prevent the majority of bots from entering I put 95% of my GAs on Level2+ or often Invite Only in certain threads I want to support.
Otherwise it's like others already mentionend... puzzles, SGTools, etc.. but you can never be 100%sure, you can just lower the chances
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Thank you!
I figure I'm not using my spare keys, so I might as well gift them to someone who will. I'm a big fan of giveaways and contests too, it's a form of free gambling :P
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should I stop?
I'd say... you do you. A lot of people dislike random thank yous because you just get notifications for it and those people tend to not care. I also don't really care for it. But if you win a game, then it's basic courtesy to say thanks in my opinion.
Also is there anyway to be sure a bot has not won my giveaway
You can't really weed them all out. But what you can do is reduce the likelihood of having a bot win by increasing the level required to enter the giveaway. The majority of bots are in lower levels. For example, level 0 and 1. The higher you go, the smaller percentage of bots for the most part.
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I'll definitely thank if I win, but I think I'll slow down on the regular thanks unless the description implies that they want interaction! I agree, it is definitely good manners to thank when you win.
I feel bad raising the levels of my giveaways because they are lower level and bundle games (it's a dream to one day be able to do a nice, fancy giveaway, but not in my situation right now unfortunately), but it's definitely something to consider. Level 1 at least, I'd prefer to only give to people who've contributed...though I guess they could have done a 'No Value' game. But Level 2 is not as easy to reach.
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To get levels (or just the CV to get higher levels), you have to give games that have value. So the "no value" games do nothing other than increase the number of games you've given in total. So, a no value giveaway won't move you to lvl 1.
I see your worries about the levels though. Personally, when I've made lvl 1;2;3 giveaways, I've looked through the entries and a huge portion of them (maybe even a slight majority) are people who have taken way more than they've given. It's fine to do so, mind you, but I just personally don't want them to receive the stuff I give.
Happy to see someone more optimistic than me though :D
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I think everyone should thank the giveaway creator for a won game, unless the giveaway description specifically states they do not want any thanks after they have sent the game.
When it comes to entering: If I enter a public giveaway for a game with hundreds/thousands of other users, I don't comment/thank unless I have something interesting to say, whether it's something specific about the game the giveaway is for, the giveaway description, or just a friendly comment if the giveaway creator happens to be anyone I "know" a bit through SG/Steam.
If I enter a more specific high chance giveaway, like one posted in a small group, or if I'm lucky enough to be on someone's whitelist, I always comment when entering. That user has been nice enough to give me a pretty high chance at winning a game I really want to play (I only enter giveaways for those games), so I would find it impolite not to say something in those cases.
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That seems to be the general consensus and I'll do it that way from now on! Thanks for your input :) Greatly appreciated.
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I clearly go against the grain, as I say "Thank you" for every giveaway I enter. I feel that if someone took the time to make a giveaway, saying "Thank you" (or some variation on that) is the least I can do to show my appreciation.
I don't see how that indicates you're a bot, as clearly not saying anything is strictly easier and more bot-like. I also don't see how it's a huge bother to receive many thank you messages, as you can quickly scan through your messages and mark all your messages read. Personally, I like seeing the mail icon light up and seeing people say "Thank you."
Granted, I make relatively few giveaways, and I think I enter relatively few giveaways, so that may be why. If I made dozens of giveaways every day and got hundreds of messages back, maybe I'd feel different. And if I entered every giveaway in a long train, and said "Thank you" for each and every one, I'm sure I would look like a bot. But I don't do that, so I'm going to keep saying "Thank you" for the giveaways I enter, because it seems the polite and decent thing to do, and if it lands me on a blacklist or two I'm not going to worry about it (or even know about it thanks to ESGST).
As far as filtering the bots out, you can do two things. Easiest is make your giveaways Level 1 or 2+. There are 900k Level 0 users, 107k Level 1 users, and only 51k Level 2+ users. Level 1 requires giving away a game, while Level 2 requires giving away some $ amount worth of games, and thus Level 1 weeds out most of the bots and Level 2 weeds out almost all the bots. Someone else here said as a basic guide to use Level 2 to weed out almost all the bots, Level 3 to get people that are active on the site, and Level 4/5 to get people who are likely to actually play your game (or give to the Playing Appreciated / Playing Matters groups).
The other thing you can do is use SGTools, but I'm not sure how effective it is against bots (though it can also weed out others you may want to, such as rule breakers).
Anyway, welcome to the site!
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Thank you!
Even though I don't have a lot to say in reply, thanks for writing such a good chunk, I read it all, and it's good advice and another input from a different point of view.
I think I will definitely consider raising the level of my giveaways from now on!
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So I just read some threads on bots and apparently thanking for every giveaway is a sign you're a bot...I do this because I thought it was polite, should I stop?
That's a misunderstanding of the matter.
People assume bots in any situation where an entrant engages in behaviors which indicate they didn't properly read the giveaway description (as bots and one-click entry skip self-evidently skip over such). The most common situation where that occurs is in bots posting generic "thank you" comments when entering giveaways where GA creators have indicated not wanting their inbox filled with empty comments- hence that being the typical association with the concept.
You're free to say "Thank you" in any giveaway wherein the giveaway creator doesn't specify an aversion to such, and are expected to post such a comment as a winner ['cause, y'know- dick move not to.] unless, again, the giveaway creator lists a contrary preference. In sum, the entire matter boils down to showing a minimum level of respect for the giveaway creator's preferences- and thus, regardless of if you're botting or not, being rude enough to deliberately go against their listed preferences rather understandably comes across quite negatively (given that there's absolutely no reason to do such unless you're deliberately rulebreaking or deliberately intending to be disrespectful).
tl;dr version: Don't be an ass, and rational people won't get upset with you. And irrational people are, of course, irrational- so just put them out of mind, since there's just no way to get them to interact with you in a reasonable way, anyway.
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That 100% makes sense. Thank you!
Your advice at the bottom, is one of the wisest things I've read and it's always something I need a good reminder of. I'm a former perfectionist who used to be obsessed with being liked and even though I've worked on it a lot over the years, I still sometimes find myself struggling with the idea that well...some people are just not very nice, no matter how nice you might be. And alternately, some people just won't like you and it's not because of you, you just don't mesh will.
Will try and worry less!
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That 100% makes sense. Thank you!
Your advice at the bottom, is one of the wisest things I've read and it's always something I need a good reminder of. I'm a former perfectionist who used to be obsessed with being liked and even though I've worked on it a lot over the years, I still sometimes find myself struggling with the idea that well...some people are just not very nice, no matter how nice you might be. And alternately, some people just won't like you and it's not because of you, you just don't mesh will.
Will try and worry less!
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I think you accidentally missed the reply button to Sooth's comment back there.
If you reply to your own thread someone else commented on, they will not be notified you replied.
Their advice at the end there is indeed very wise.
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You are totally right, I missed the button like a button-missing moron! Thanks, I'll fix it now. :)
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Every comment gives GA creator message notification. Multiply that by number of entries and by number of created giveaways and you can get quite insane spam. I prefer to be notified only about meaningful messages.
Thanking for won GA is best imo. (unless stated otherwise in description ofc)
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Yup, totally understand that. I'll definitely be curtailing my thanks from now on!
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i appreciate a thanks comment from the winner after marking the giveaway received, or a comment that says something about the game or something about what i put in the giveaway description or forum thread that linked to the giveaway . . . but if it's just a "thanks!" i don't need to see that. i assume if you entered then you're thankful for the giveaway.
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I am probably an oddball who thanks GA creators if they create several high value giveaways at once, host a wishlist GA, make a whitelist/group GA I'm entering, and of course, games that I won. I try to limit the thanks to just one comment, to reduce spam. Just the idea of someone gifting high value games to a random person is something very kind, and unlikely to see if it were not for this site. Not sure if its a good thing or bad, but its what I do.
I sorta feel bad/ungrateful if I don't. Kindness should be appreciated, regardless of how big/small a gesture it may be.
I apologise for the extra notifications I may have given others, though :d
/is bricked
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I totally agree with you on that, but it seems like overall people prefer it if you don't. I'll make sure to show extra gratitude if I win or if they ask for thanks. I'll get blacklisted 50 times just for being so over-zealous, THIS IS WHO I AM.
Ahem.
Great gif.
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That's very fine.
I read every GA description.
If there's a note saying no generic thanks or to leave a funny gif instead, I follow whenever I can.
Cattos and doggos make gifs 100% better.
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I just play it by ear. If there's a nice giveaway that no one or very few have commented on, I will probably make a comment just to let the creator know that their generosity is noticed and appreciated. If there are lots of comments/thanks already, I won't, unless I have something to say.
On public giveaways, I no longer blacklist for winner not thanking - i just figure that they are the bots ;D Unless, of course, they have won several games from me and still not said anything - then I might start to get annoyed. Even then I prefer to express that by leaving a comment on one of their old giveaways, rather than blacklist.
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I find it's always awesome to be a grown-up about it and confront someone when you're annoyed. But I get that some people are super shy and can't do that (I myself used to be painfully shy).
I do tend to leave an extra exuberant comment when there's no comments, as I also feel bad if nobody's commented to say thanks.
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I used to do that too, but some people blacklisted me because of this so I stopped.
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Yea you should stop, since you get blacklisted most of the time, but don't forget to thanks if you won a game, and also it's ok to say thanks to some giveaways, but in a way that its obvious you are not a bot :)
also welcome to the site :)
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Definitely done doing that now, hehe! Thank yooou, happy to be here!
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My best advice (which has already been mentioned, but it's worth mentioning again) is to free yourself from the fear of being blacklisted. Honestly, with your track record so far (17 giveaways in 8 days!), anyone who blacklists you is going to be more negatively impacted than you will be, because they will miss out on your giveaways. So try to let go of the blacklist fear that seems to grip people around here.
I don't post on every giveaway I enter, but when I do, I try to post something other than just a generic "thank you." There's no problem with a generic "thank you" but it's also pretty boring and... well, bot-like. :)
I always try to post something on whitelist giveaways.
Welcome to SG! :)
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Thank yooooou!
Noted. Sadly, I don't know that the pace of giveaways will keep up and none of them are crazy rare games or anything, but I do like to feel I'm contributing.
Honestly, when it comes to Blacklist...not everyone is going to like me, I can be a lot and that's ok. I'm here for the fun, if they hate me, more power to them as long as I don't have to hear about it!
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So I just read some threads on bots and apparently thanking for every giveaway is a sign you're a bot...I do this because I thought it was polite, should I stop?
Also is there anyway to be sure a bot has not won my giveaway, keep in mind I am not super savvy about this kind of stuff and medical issues makes my brain slow, so dumb it down if you need to.
Thanks all!
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