Posted September 29, 2016
high rated
This might have been done before. It might be a terrible idea. I have no clue. I just figure it's about time somebody tries it, so I might as well.
Howdy, folks. This here thread is a list of commonly-asked questions which newbies or members who haven't checked the forum in a while may be wondering. It's primarily aimed at new members (such as individuals who are coming because of Gwent, GOG Connect, etc.) to prevent endless threads/questions on the same issue. I remember when I first arrived here, and I certainly could have benefited from such a topic.
If you have any suggestions to add to the list or would like clarification on certain points, please let me know. I'll try to keep this thing updated as best I can, provided it doesn't end up being a washout and worthy of abandonment.
I'm new to the forum! What should I know?
- You should read what is covered in this thread.
- You should read the forum code of conduct, located here.
- This FAQ thread references less technical aspects and more common topics of the forum.
Forum Questions
Forum culture
How long has the forum been here?
- It has been around since the launch of GOG. The first ever post was on July 11, 2008, a news post by the staff. The first ever non-staff post was on September 8, 2008.
What is a PM?
- "PM" stands for "private message". It refers to the GOG chat system.
- If you wish to start a chat with somebody, hover over their forum avatar and click on "start conversation". If this option is greyed out, it's possible that their privacy settings only allow people who they've registered as friends to chat with them. It could also be that you've been blocked or that they've made their settings to disallow chat messages from anybody. The only way to find out is to ask the user and indicate your intention to chat with them.
- The reason people tend to refer to the chat as "private messaging" is because the system used to work differently, somewhat of a paragraph-style private forum post setup rather than an instant messaging system.
What is "The Keaning"?
- "The Keaning" refers to an event which happened during a GOG Insomnia Sale promo. In the Insomnia promos, there is typically one game discounted at a time, with the game changing after a certain amount of copies of the previous game are sold. When the discounted game became Jack Keane, it sold so slowly that the promo was stuck on it for a very long time.
- The Keaning resulted in lots of fake/joke reviews appearing on the page for Jack Keane in a mock/humorous attempt to get people to buy the game and stop the promo from stagnating.
What is the "Good News"?
- This term refers to the introduction of regional pricing, as covered here. In the announcement, GOG referred to this as "good news", when it is looked down upon by a large number of the community (see: "What is regional pricing?").
- The term is now used mockingly by forum members whenever a perceived negative change appears to be coming to the website.
What does "too niche" mean?
- This term refers to GOG's responses to many developers whose games have been rejected by GOG's game curation team.
- The term was used so often that it became a running joke in the community.
What is rep?/What is the whole scandal about rep?
- "rep" or "reputation points" is the number located just underneath a user's avatar. Its intended purpose was to show how active or "involved" a person is in the community.
- The number increases 1 point per day for posting. You can also gain 5 points by being marked as the answer on question threads, or from receiving +1s on your posts.
- The number decreases when you receive -1s on your posts.
- The problem that arose is that certain users have learned to make use of a script by which perfectly trustworthy users may be targeted and lose 6-12 rep points per day. This script somehow adds -1s to various random posts of the targeted user, thus ensuring that the recipient will receive enough -1s to make the chosen posts "low rated" or otherwise lose the maximum loseable rep points. A similar script will also +1 posts of the scammer's account. This process is repeated daily in an attempt to lower the target's rep number, boost the scammer's rep number, and subsequently trick new users, particularly those who are new to trading (see: "How can I trade on GOG?"), into thinking that the scammer is trustworthy and the ones warning against him are not. As a general rule, if you're ever uncertain about anybody, check the known scammers wiki.
Forum users
Can you give me a general impression of the people on the forum?
- The forum is made up of primarily 25-55-year-olds, leaning heavily on the middle-aged or older side of the charts. The political views tend to be a fair mix of conservative and liberal. There are people from all over the world located on this forum. Most users here are friendly, although you should judge each individual for yourself.
Who is Judas?
- "Judas" commonly refers to JudasIscariot, one of the most prominent staff members on the forum.
- He is known for being generally very helpful and performing tasks which fall outside of his job description. He is often the go-to staff member for forum problems.
Who is Fables?
- "Fables" commonly refers to fables22, the current community manager of the forum.
- She joined in the month of November in 2016 and has since worked to set up rules and moderation on the forum. There was little to no moderation for a few years before this.
Who is "The Puzzlemaster"?
- "The Puzzlemaster" is a self-appointed nickname used to refer to user zeogold.
- zeogold is a user with a Sam avatar (from the game "Sam and Max Hit the Road"). He is known for running the Community Giveaway - Steam Edition (see: "What is the Community Giveaway?") and his "Puzzlemaster's" series of games.
Forum tech
Why can't I post links?
- This is an anti-spam feature in the forum put in place in order to ensure that bots do not sign up fake accounts for the purpose of posting links to scam websites. If your rep is less than 10, you cannot post links, and if you attempt to, your post will not go through (it may simply say "Please wait. Processing..." without ever actually doing so or closing the box where you're typing your post).
How can I find forum posts before January 1, 2015?
- Check the archives.
How do I lock a thread?/How do I change my thread title?/How do I delete a post?
- All of these actions, among others, can be performed by asking one of the blues to do it for you (see: "Who are the 'blues'?").
- If a thread has gotten out of hand or breaks the forum rules, it will sometimes be automatically locked by one of the blues.
Howdy, folks. This here thread is a list of commonly-asked questions which newbies or members who haven't checked the forum in a while may be wondering. It's primarily aimed at new members (such as individuals who are coming because of Gwent, GOG Connect, etc.) to prevent endless threads/questions on the same issue. I remember when I first arrived here, and I certainly could have benefited from such a topic.
If you have any suggestions to add to the list or would like clarification on certain points, please let me know. I'll try to keep this thing updated as best I can, provided it doesn't end up being a washout and worthy of abandonment.
I'm new to the forum! What should I know?
- You should read what is covered in this thread.
- You should read the forum code of conduct, located here.
- This FAQ thread references less technical aspects and more common topics of the forum.
Forum Questions
Forum culture
How long has the forum been here?
- It has been around since the launch of GOG. The first ever post was on July 11, 2008, a news post by the staff. The first ever non-staff post was on September 8, 2008.
What is a PM?
- "PM" stands for "private message". It refers to the GOG chat system.
- If you wish to start a chat with somebody, hover over their forum avatar and click on "start conversation". If this option is greyed out, it's possible that their privacy settings only allow people who they've registered as friends to chat with them. It could also be that you've been blocked or that they've made their settings to disallow chat messages from anybody. The only way to find out is to ask the user and indicate your intention to chat with them.
- The reason people tend to refer to the chat as "private messaging" is because the system used to work differently, somewhat of a paragraph-style private forum post setup rather than an instant messaging system.
What is "The Keaning"?
- "The Keaning" refers to an event which happened during a GOG Insomnia Sale promo. In the Insomnia promos, there is typically one game discounted at a time, with the game changing after a certain amount of copies of the previous game are sold. When the discounted game became Jack Keane, it sold so slowly that the promo was stuck on it for a very long time.
- The Keaning resulted in lots of fake/joke reviews appearing on the page for Jack Keane in a mock/humorous attempt to get people to buy the game and stop the promo from stagnating.
What is the "Good News"?
- This term refers to the introduction of regional pricing, as covered here. In the announcement, GOG referred to this as "good news", when it is looked down upon by a large number of the community (see: "What is regional pricing?").
- The term is now used mockingly by forum members whenever a perceived negative change appears to be coming to the website.
What does "too niche" mean?
- This term refers to GOG's responses to many developers whose games have been rejected by GOG's game curation team.
- The term was used so often that it became a running joke in the community.
What is rep?/What is the whole scandal about rep?
- "rep" or "reputation points" is the number located just underneath a user's avatar. Its intended purpose was to show how active or "involved" a person is in the community.
- The number increases 1 point per day for posting. You can also gain 5 points by being marked as the answer on question threads, or from receiving +1s on your posts.
- The number decreases when you receive -1s on your posts.
- The problem that arose is that certain users have learned to make use of a script by which perfectly trustworthy users may be targeted and lose 6-12 rep points per day. This script somehow adds -1s to various random posts of the targeted user, thus ensuring that the recipient will receive enough -1s to make the chosen posts "low rated" or otherwise lose the maximum loseable rep points. A similar script will also +1 posts of the scammer's account. This process is repeated daily in an attempt to lower the target's rep number, boost the scammer's rep number, and subsequently trick new users, particularly those who are new to trading (see: "How can I trade on GOG?"), into thinking that the scammer is trustworthy and the ones warning against him are not. As a general rule, if you're ever uncertain about anybody, check the known scammers wiki.
Forum users
Can you give me a general impression of the people on the forum?
- The forum is made up of primarily 25-55-year-olds, leaning heavily on the middle-aged or older side of the charts. The political views tend to be a fair mix of conservative and liberal. There are people from all over the world located on this forum. Most users here are friendly, although you should judge each individual for yourself.
Who is Judas?
- "Judas" commonly refers to JudasIscariot, one of the most prominent staff members on the forum.
- He is known for being generally very helpful and performing tasks which fall outside of his job description. He is often the go-to staff member for forum problems.
Who is Fables?
- "Fables" commonly refers to fables22, the current community manager of the forum.
- She joined in the month of November in 2016 and has since worked to set up rules and moderation on the forum. There was little to no moderation for a few years before this.
Who is "The Puzzlemaster"?
- "The Puzzlemaster" is a self-appointed nickname used to refer to user zeogold.
- zeogold is a user with a Sam avatar (from the game "Sam and Max Hit the Road"). He is known for running the Community Giveaway - Steam Edition (see: "What is the Community Giveaway?") and his "Puzzlemaster's" series of games.
Forum tech
Why can't I post links?
- This is an anti-spam feature in the forum put in place in order to ensure that bots do not sign up fake accounts for the purpose of posting links to scam websites. If your rep is less than 10, you cannot post links, and if you attempt to, your post will not go through (it may simply say "Please wait. Processing..." without ever actually doing so or closing the box where you're typing your post).
How can I find forum posts before January 1, 2015?
- Check the archives.
How do I lock a thread?/How do I change my thread title?/How do I delete a post?
- All of these actions, among others, can be performed by asking one of the blues to do it for you (see: "Who are the 'blues'?").
- If a thread has gotten out of hand or breaks the forum rules, it will sometimes be automatically locked by one of the blues.
Post edited March 31, 2017 by zeogold
