The issue is that reducing them to "giveaway" because of the word "giveaway" is retarded. When I make a thread asking some question, opinion, suggestion, testimony, or whatever, I don't want it to be ignored based on whether i also offer a game to some random answer in it. But people seem completely incapable to deal with anything that doesn't fit in their two-slots brain model, and are completely confused if something is neither a "giveaway" nor a "non-giveaway" thread. As they fail to deal with this extremely perplexing issue of a thread having multiple aspects, I will have to manually help their brain process this overly complex amount of data, and shove it into the slightly least irrelevant one of their two slots.

If anything, it'll deprive them of one reason to whine that nothing interesting ever happens in the forums : their "i don't know, i never click on a discussion if it involves a giveaway at some point" psychosis.

Basically, what is being negociated here is the end of the valuable "not in" contributions to a thread that happens to feature a giveaway - replaced by "fuck you i wish your thread didn't exist in the first place and i will now program my computer so that it would simply not show on my screen". And, well, it's an evolution and attitude I have little respect for.

And to drive the point home. Some of my favorite threads on this forum have been giveaways of mine : they have not been made awesome by my own OP, they have been made awesome by the quality -and the number- of the posts that answered it. They are threads I take pleasure in re-reading. Series of personal testimonies, poetry, reflexions, confessions, song links, whatever. They happened to have a giveaway as an incentive, although people would also post without wanting to be part of the contest. Such threads are better the more people post in them. Maybe they would have worked just as well without the giveaway incentive, but thinking that because they were also a giveaway they were dismissed, or would have been dismissed, by a portion of potential posters who simply decided they can't stomach the concept, or who want to be spared anything optionally involving a giveaway at some level, is just sad. It's just stupid. And so would be the script that ghetto-ize such threads. Not only mine, but also several others, from suggestion demands to sociological experiments demanding participation, etc. If a script treats such threads as spam, then it clearly deserves to be bypassed, that is all.

I tried to keep it to myself, but thank God someone spoke up about this.

It got to the point where I saw 4 or 5 different threads by the same person one next to the other. Half of the first page is just giveaways.

And to those acting like the script is a solution, it isn't. A lot of people's settings only have 10 topics per page and do check only the first page, neither could we expect any different from newcomers or infrequent posters, so having most of that page be giveaways means that every other thread, threads with actual discussion in them, get buried. Since a thread is improved by people posting in them, flooding like this taking away its views, makes every other thread worse as a result.

What is a solution? Simple, instead of making five threads make a single one with all the games you want to give and require people to enter for only one of them.

Alternatively, increase the topics per page.

Why does the simple solution have to create extra onus on the people contributing when a simpler solution is just changing a variable on GOGs servers (default topics per page)?

Which would be a really huge jerk move. Why on Earth would you deliberately bypass the only known mechanism people have to filter out something they don't want, and force them to participate in something they have expressly tried to avoid participating in? What possible good could come of something like that for anyone other than someone trying to create chaos, or demand everyone pay attention to them?

Unless I'm miss interpreting something, I'm border line shocked. Not shocked someone would do something like that, but shocked someone would admit they are planing to do it, and seem to think there is nothing wrong with it.

It's fine that you enjoy giveaways, but That doesn't mean you get to demand everyone else feel the same way, and really you don't need to work around the system. Anyone that has gone to the trouble of adding a hiding script doesn't want to play, and I would wager to say you don't really want them playing. It should be OK for people to not play together, but what your proposing is not OK. Nobody is deliberately spoiling the giveaway culture, but please don't spoil people's right to not be a part of that culture if they don't want to.

Like I said, you can't expect someone who is coming here for the first time or checks the forum once a month to do this. I have the maximum number of topics per page but the way things are you lose the contribution of casual forum members or the chance to change them into regular ones by presenting nothing but giveaways instead of actual discussion. Besides, the times I did do giveaways I gifted 4 or 5 games per topic, if anything the more roundabout way is going through the trouble of making multiple threads instead of just one.

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/forum_is_drowning_in_spam/post167

Did you read my post to the end?

Changing the default topics per page means not expecting anyone to do it. It'd be the default.

I thought you meant default as in manually changing it to be the default number you see everytime you log in, basically what we already have, but I understand you now. It would help, it would still be annoying since I have it and half of the topics are still giveaways, but it would indeed help.

Not that it matters since it'd be leaving the responsability with GOG and they've made it clear enough that there is no intention in changing anything. What's left is the users, then between the people viewing threads and the ones making them I think the responsability lies with the latter group.

today is my birthday, and i was just about to put up a GOG giveaway to celebrate this old git getting a bit older, when i found this thread. Drawing the only conclusion I can - i must be 1 of the worst spammers on the forum ffs -

in general - u can block "giveaway" threads using said script. If the op does not use said word "to avoid" it (the sneaky bastard) at most u have lost 2 secs of your life.

I really don't understand the moaning - every person that complains about the giveaway threads, would find another target they didn't like if they are removed. You are not going to be interested in every single thread, regardless of the range of subjects.

again - in general - do u complain to the news service provider if they have an article on their website you are not interested ? - i guess u just don't read it. In my case I would be complaining to the BBC everyday, as half their website is full of complete crap.

what a fucking crap way to start my day

ps - I do understand that some people do not want to take part in giveaways, I really do, and I also think that the clever chap/chapess that wrote the script, should be applauded :) - However, i think it is too far a step to ask them to be segregated - can we not play well all together ?

Don't let it get you down. Nine pages (on my layout) used to complain about Spam. If anything you should be laughing your ass off!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Ian!

Personally, I have stopped hosting giveaways, at least for a little while. I also feel there are too many and its clogging up the forum.

It would be great if they made a sub-forum. Otherwise, I will wait until things quiet down a smidge and then host one.

EXACTLY MY THOUGHTS!
Cheers Ian!
...and MERRY ANNUALISED LIVER DEGREDATION DAY!

And Womb Emancipation Day!