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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Inertial Drift - Twilight Rivals Package consisting of base game plus DLC

Level 4 ends tomorrow
(sgtools link updated)

https://www.sgtools.info/giveaways/75a3d2b3-ca46-4239-a86a-b6f9f4172d58

6 days ago*
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5 days ago
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Thanks

5 days ago
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🐸

5 days ago
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🐸 II

5 days ago
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bump

5 days ago
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🐸

5 days ago
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Cheers! 🤜🏻🤛🏻

5 days ago
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bumpo!

4 days ago
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Wow, thank you! Bump :)

4 days ago
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Jumpo

4 days ago
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Thnx'n'Bmp! 👍

3 days ago
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🐸

3 days ago
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Thanks for the nice train!

3 days ago
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Thanks! Didn't even realize until now, that there was more to this than the initial game, which I already own.

3 days ago
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one more bump :)

3 days ago
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🐸 🔍 🦞 👮🏽

Bump!

2 days ago
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🐸

2 days ago
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I admit this is 🐸

2 days ago
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🐸

2 days ago
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bump!

3 days ago
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Giveaway times have been nicely laid.
I mean, bump.

3 days ago
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Bump!

3 days ago
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Bump!

3 days ago
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I love this URL scheme

3 days ago
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Bump!

3 days ago
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Thank you! Bump :)

2 days ago
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Always wondered how much truth is to evil forum bots, whether link obfuscation is really needed or just a nuisance.
So I prepared a test-field, 4 times the same game, all at level 1.

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/IpkUo/

direct link

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/T6r?L/

? = B
change first letter to lowercase

https://www.sgtools.info/giveaways/52c93c7f-0e7c-4292-9aa7-a667701c29d2

direct SGT link

https://www.sgtools.info/giveaways/2cb7bfc3-8b95-?450-b6e2-25ad1721747

? = 4
add 8 at the end

1 day ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 1 day ago.

1 day ago
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I'm curious about the results.

The multiple tests that I have made show a slight difference, but not much.

1 day ago
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Wouldn't surprise me if it's just people being lazy lol

1 day ago
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Never underestimate people's laziness 😂

1 day ago
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I'm not a bot but i can't resolve the second and i don't know why, looks so easy, i'm maybe doing something wrong.

1 day ago
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others seem not to have problems there, just look which letters are in uppercase in the first place

1 day ago
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I have the game, and have tried a few combinations, and I also can't enter to the second giveaway.
Maybe I'm dumber than bots.

1 day ago
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just read all carefully

1 day ago
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Nah, I think the process of copy and paste, it directed to the original link, instead of the modified one, even if i was seen the modified one, it directed to the original one. It seems when I modified the letters, i was only modifying the text of the link, not the proper link. I should have made it in a dumb text editor.
Once I pasted just the letters on another GA it worked.

1 day ago
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Try on another browser. Chrome is the problem.

19 hours ago
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Nice experiment, looking forward to see the results

1 day ago
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As of now, 21% more entries for the first one versus the last one.

22 hours ago
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