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bler144: Thanks for doing that - just as a small observation, while there's a good reason to start a new gift sheet every month (no peeksies!), instead of making a new sheet each month for this you could just use a new tab.

That way those of us who follow such things (mostly just to remember what I asked for, or when) could bookmark it once rather than having to find your posts each month.

Not a big deal, but food for thought?
Yes that's a good idea indeed and will for sure use it adding new tabs each month.
I'll just keep use one spreadsheet for each year to make it more practical to avoid to have too many tabs after some years
1 spreadsheet - 1 year - 12 tabs

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gvyop: For the list of games taken, the number, the name, all this is very good, it's a lot of administrative work but it goes in the direction of transparency so I'm 100% agree. But do not make mistakes ... it would be damaging. (the cure worse than the bad)
remember I'm still a human being :P
I always put lot of care doing this.

this is a service I did and continue to do with pleasure to help finkleroy to have life 'easier' and it's not my aim to make it instead more complicated

But ehy, if a mistake will happen will be somehow managed
Eraseres and CTRL-Z exists for this in main life :)

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Microfish_1: My biggest complaint about the example spreadsheet is the sheer size/real estate it takes up. As the owner of a 1080p 15" screen, that example sheet takes up a tremendous amount of room (multiple screens just to see one user's data), which makes it difficult to navigate. (my monitor's small size is why I have steam, discord, email, etc set to "compact".)
I gave a look to your screenshots and proposal
Sincerely I'd like to keep it as it is because for 2 main reason: the single user point of view and 'administrative' point of view.
(the 'tool' was born mainly to help finkleroy in is heavy task)

For single user point of view:
this is just an help to verify if you have reached your limit or not and where.

I don't see big issue with a 1080p resolution like yours
I've done all of this using my Chromebook 14" 1080p see attached picture :)
(my main gaming computer is in my studio but I like to play it in my living room and all my GOG/Steam/Epic games are launched through Steam Link on my 50" TV)

To verify your month status you just a have to check your lines that could be at maximum 2: 1 per Non-Daggered - 1 per Daggered
and to quick move on the sheet just press CTRL+F and type your name in it... the result would be just max 2 to rows per user and fastly swap between the two of them using one ENTER key (so not a big fatigue)

For administrative point of view:
Keeping track of single titles, it's quite important to have a global trend view of the kind of games request, run an analysis of the requests at the end of certain period (how many AAA,AA titles has been requested per user, etc..) and put in place the corrective actions if necessary.

Second point:
In case of 'discussions' from some user the admin can always says:
you got this this and this
here it is the links of your granted requests - end of discussion

And to reach this I had to split in the separate views: 1 for Non-Daggered - 1 for Daggered

From my point view the important things are:
- the sheet should contain all the main information necessary to run correctly the GA
- the information should be as complete as possible to help finkleroy have his overview
- the information should be correct

I'll start this way and the see how it'll go, it's not forbidden to apply changes on the run





(sorry forgot to add the attachement.. i just link it https://ibb.co/FnB8dr6)
Post edited August 29, 2019 by Damon18
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RickyAndersen: Big thanks to Damon18 & Ruubet for Smoke and Sacrifice & Tropico.
And also thank you to finkleroy for the massive work handling the giveaway.
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zejango: Thank you so much finkleroy and Damon18.
Your are both welcome!
Have fun and enjoy!
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Damon18: ...snip...
Ok, thank you for your time and the response.

I do understand where you are coming from, as I hadn't before, and I do appreciate the reasoning. I apologize for sinking into the all-too-common trap of wanting this spreadsheet thing be a "what's best for me" matter instead of "what's best for us."

Out of curiosity, if someone gets an unusually higher-than-average number of AAA, AA etc titles, but so long as they don't break any rules, what kind of administrative action would be required?
The statement in question is
Keeping track of single titles, it's quite important to have a global trend view of the kind of games request, run an analysis of the requests at the end of certain period (how many AAA,AA titles has been requested per user, etc..) and put in place the corrective actions if necessary.
Maybe you didn't mean it as the way I could read it (ie if you request too many good games you might get BL'd), so would you mind clarifying?
I can also see how you meant this as a list of bullet point unrelated things, but the "corrective actions" immediately following "the number of requests per user (for top-tier games etc)" made me curious.

And, I was gonna make a joke, but cannot find the source material, so for now...this, i guess. :D
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Microfish_1: *snip*
No need to apologize! we are here to talk about this

No no: probably I expressed myself bad
No 'corrective' action is planned, punishements or something similar (and neither I'm the person who will take them)
That was just an example I did

The aim is offer a tool that is as complete as possible to understand if things are working as finkleroy has in his mind

If after some times everything is fine: GREAT!
if not, maybe (and I repeat maybe) finkleroy can decide to apply some changes
This spreadsheet could be for him a starting point to begin an analysis, nothing more

As I as said let's start and see how things will work fine :)
Post edited August 29, 2019 by Damon18
Thank you Crackpot.756 for Hacknet, kmcoolice for Orwell and finkleroy for managing this thread.
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Damon18: I'll just keep use one spreadsheet for each year to make it more practical to avoid to have too many tabs after some years
1 spreadsheet - 1 year - 12 tabs
Seems like a good balance. Thanks!
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finkleroy: It's 5 non-daggered keys & 7 daggered keys from the main list + 1 non-daggered key & 1 daggered key from each round for each update.
So if for 1 month there is 3 rounds. :
- 1st update have 10 "A+" games => + 1 round
- 2nd update have 3 "A+" => +0 round
- 3rd update have 40 "A+" => +1 round

For that particular month Things will be :
- 5ND + 7D from main list
+ 2ND + 2D for 1st updt
+ 1ND + 1D for 2nd Updt
+ 2ND + 2D for 3rd updt
==>> Total 10 ND + 12D and each updates will stand for about 10 days with 1round at the publishing date and 1 round just before the copy in the main list

Is that correct ?
For how long will run the 2nd round for 1st and 3rd updates ?

("A+" stand for "extremely popular" and I just do not want to know what A+ figure out for the others ;-p)

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finkleroy: If there's only one round before those keys are added to the main list, where the limit is 5 non-daggered keys per month, they could be snatched up in no time by as few as 4 people. Letting everyone have 1 more non-daggered key and 1 more daggered key before adding the update to the main list would help prevent this. I'm trying to shrink the main list, and I'm also trying to make sure the most popular keys from each update are spread around to as many people as possible. If there doesn't need to be a second round, there won't be one. If there needs to be 2 or more rounds, there will be. I'll take it on a case by case basis, depending on the size of the update and how many popular keys are left after the first round.
Letting everyone have 1 more non-daggered key and 1 more daggered key before adding the update to the main list would help prevent this. I'm trying to shrink the main list, and I'm also trying to make sure the most popular keys from each update are spread around to as many people as possible. If there doesn't need to be a second round, there won't be one. If there needs to be 2 or more rounds, there will be. I'll take it on a case by case basis, depending on the size of the update and how many popular keys are left after the first round.
But is this not the purpose of the retained keys ?
If at any given moment you have so many "A+" games, it's time to do several updates during the same month, right?

There you add complexity by doubling redistribution mechanisms. Mostly updates that really contain a lot of A + games are not so common.
Therefore what is the criterion that triggers precisely a 2nd round?

Well, for me, this 2nd round by update is not useful for the majority of us. It can be if we suddenly think of a game that had escaped us in the first round and that we really want to have all of a sudden while the quota of the month is already exhausted on the main list. As it is an ELASTIC quota, it's convenient ...
But again, there is already a mechanism that can be used in this case: the appointment, which reserves a game for a few days. (the time to move to the next month for example.)

All this makes things very complex. But as I always say, things in your hands.


Edit : mispelling
Post edited August 30, 2019 by gvyop
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gvyop: *snip*
It's more simple than you are describing - As far I've understood:
Round is just to 'reproposal' of the same identical update list, where you can have the chance to get 1+1 more games, it's not a new update.

What is the purpose?
It's simple: if there are 20A+ games and at the end of the month there is a left over of 5 of those A+ titles due to the limit of 1 per person, if I am quick enough at midnight of the 1st of the following month I can grab all those 5 A+ titles only for myself.
Introducing rounds the probabilty that those 5 A+ titles go to 5 different people is higher

How many rounds and how long they'll be is not a given data and only finkleroy will decide
There could be months with X rounds and months with just 1

In case of a new update, like it always has been, the previous update list will be merged into the main list where the rule of 5 games per month is still applied

Remember that finkleroy already specified that with the method of rounds, the retained keys could not have a meaning anymore, but in case of a really massive donation could be useful to keep some of them..
That's why the GA has an admin to do all this kind of evaluations and 'administrate' all of this

You also asked "what is the criterion that triggers precisely a 2nd round?"
There 's not a 'precise' criterion... is the adminsitrator evaluation/decision... and that's all
Post edited August 30, 2019 by Damon18
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gvyop: *snip*
I think Damon18 explained it well. I'll just be eyeballing it. The reason the limit is 1 daggered key + 1 non-daggered key per update is to prevent people from taking 3 popular keys at once. Introducing rounds prevents people from taking 5 at once when the update is added to the main list. I don't understand what's so complicated about how this works.
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Damon18: It's more simple than you are describing - As far I've understood:
Round is just to 'reproposal' of the same identical update list, where you can have the chance to get 1+1 more games, it's not a new update.
yes that's also what I understood. is there errors in my example that would made it more simple ?

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Damon18: What is the purpose?
It's simple: if there are 20A+ games and at the end of the month there is a left over of 5 of those A+ titles due to the limit of 1 per person, if I am quick enough at midnight of the 1st of the following month I can grab all those 5 A+ titles only for myself.
Introducing rounds the probabilty that those 5 A+ titles go to 5 different people is higher
yes that's also what I understood. Except that I do not think there will still have 5 remaining keys, OR, if we speak about the raptor wich will post at midnight, this raptor will have already grab all the keys using differents accounts + nomination process if needed.
we are talking about a better distribution for EVERYONE by avoiding malhonetes, isn't it?

So let's imagine this example voluntarily exaggerated: : my account, + my wife account + my 2 sons and 3 girls accounts (already 7/14 games for 1 update) + some friends wich will gently nominate me or one of my familly account to the next keys ;-)
This film, purposely absurd and gross, says that there are always mechanisms to prevent the rest of any A+ game at the end of 1st round ;-)
So I think it does not help to prevent the characters "fast enough at midnight" :-)

Finally, the only real and effective change is the 1ND + 1D update, for which fraudsters will still have a little more work to do. (and it's already a good thing!)
But it's a lot more complicated than before for everyone (and for you 2 too, up to you).

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Damon18: How many rounds and how long they'll be is not a given data and only finkleroy will decide
This point is important. Will there be a newsletter for EVERYONE to be aware about the next special offer?
(Next in PM my community friend ;-D - I'm kidding a bit ...)

because the 2nd round will be practical for that: to help a friend who has already taken his 1ND + 1D games so that he can have a 2nd before someone also asks for this game ...


Edit : trasnlations
Post edited August 30, 2019 by gvyop
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gvyop: *snip*
You seem to be extremely paranoid about hypothetical situations that might occur in the future wherein scammers and cheaters take advantage of the giveaway. I haven't seen any of this happen during my time hanging around the giveaway. Has this been a problem in the past? What makes you think it will become one in the future?

Nobody will know if or when another round will happen before it happens. It will be random, just like the updates. I think you're unnecessarily complicating the rounds concept in your mind. It's really not.
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gvyop: ...
<hissyfit>
Could you please stop your abstruse comments? They are not very helpful.
You have problems with the rules of this GA?
Why don't you open your own GA, with a strict rule book and a few deputy sheriffs?

Please excuse my harsh words, but I'm slightly irritated by your comments.
Maybe we are lost in misunderstanding/translation due to my poor language skills.

As I wrote before, I always liked the lighthearted vibe of this GA, and hope this will remain unchanged.
</hissyfit>

-------------
Thank you Damon18 and finkleroy for your patience.
Post edited August 30, 2019 by gixgox
Let's just wait for September first and see how it will go.
I agree with finkleroy, gixgox and AWG43 (+1 everyone)
There are too many reasoning here that are made on the Twilight Zone...
Ler's start this new thing and will we see how it's gonna settle..

... and above all, let's just all enjoy all the free games without cringing our brains too much



And that's what I'm gonna do here:

may I request from main list:
- Cast of the Seven Godsends
- Super House of Dead Ninjas + DLC (dlc is between the list of daggered)


:)
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Damon18: may I request from main list:
- Cast of the Seven Godsends
- Super House of Dead Ninjas + DLC (dlc is between the list of daggered)
Granted.