ne_zavarj: Gog forum = Titanic

Someone must to do something before it will hit an iceberg .

blotunga: I simply ignore the phenomenon. I have scaled back on giveaways, and if I do one I do a "thorough" background check, but I won't stop using the forums because of a few rotten apples. If someone insults me, well it's hard to do I admit, but if they do, then I simply ignore them. I don't have time nor energy to give a damn about them.

mrkgnao: Anatomy of a Disrupted Giveaway

For those of you who were not part of it, here is a rundown of the events in Phc7006's most generous recent giveaway (all times are PDT).

The 4-phase, 16-game mystery giveaway (need to guess the GOG games in order to get them) began early yesterday morning and was quickly joined by many goglodytes who like this kind of spirited forum activity, myself included.

After a few hours it became clear to some of us that the giveaway had been joined by a scammer (or perhaps more than one) using alt accounts. This was discussed in private chats, not in the thread itself. I am aware of one discussion, but I expect there were more.

In the afternoon, Phc7006 reluctantly had to do something about it and he restricted participation to those who had joined before April 2015.

Then all hell broke loose. Every single post in the thread became low rated within minutes (since then people have upvoted everyone back to normal --- a few minutes ago all posts AGAIN became low rated).

A couple of hours later many of us got a chat message from what looked like Phc7006 (but was really Phc7OO6 --- note the capital O's instead of the zeros). Attached is mine [pic 1]. The avatar used was the avatar Phc7006 has been using for years (Phc7006 changed his avatar as a result of this). Even Phc7006 himself got one [pic 2].

People began discussing it in the thread itself, especially since some people did not realise that the chat message was not from Phc7006 but from an impersonator.

Come evening, the scammer openly joined the discussion, gloating at how he had managed to disrupt the giveaway, posting from multiple accounts (several of his posts have since been deleted). Here are some mild examples: post 167, post 169, post 178. In one of the deleted posts he even bragged that he was using a tool (he got from someone one steam, IIRC and we are to believe him) to automatically downvote all the posts in the entire thread. He also posted a vicious jpg where one can clearly see all the early posts of the thread downvoted (and other uglinesses) [pic 3]. His posts makes it seem as if there was more than one person involved, but that may well not be the case. It hardly matters.

Then he went away, probably to sleep, and guessing resumed as normal.

This morning, Phc7006 woke up to see the mess and was especially dismayed at how easily someone could impersonate him via the chat system. He understandably decided to cancel the giveaway, which based on past experience would have otherwise probably run for several days or even a week.

You can read some people's sad reactions after Phc7006's post.

As I had already mentioned above, while composing this post, I noticed that all the posts in the giveaway thread had been AGAIN downvoted. This has seen been partly reversed, possibly by the community.

Welcome to GOG.

IAmSinistar: There was a recent sale where GOG posted something like their Top 20 Buyers, the folks who had bought the most titles from the GOG catalogue. The response from the majority of us on nearly all the names was "who?". I think that illustrates the divide between how important we feel we are to GOG, and how important we actually are, at least in a fiscal sense. They probably view the forums less as the payout slot of an ATM and more as the release valve on a pressure cooker.

In the fraternal sense, we love games, we love GOG, and we love each other. But we are ultimately the gregarious group that reserves the big table in the restaurant once a week - our presence is occasionally a boon, but equally likely to leave a mess, and of itself does not keep the business afloat.

There are still minor changes which GOG could make that would render the forum experience vastly better for us. But for reasons monetary or otherwise, those changes are not priorities, and are unlikely to become so when weighed against things that bring in the dosh. Ultimately it falls, as it ever has, upon us to do what we can ourselves, until such time as GOG delivers to us tools with which to do better.

ne_zavarj: Gog forum = Titanic

Someone must to do something before it will hit an iceberg .

mrkgnao: SNIP

lazydog: Thanks for the lengthy post detailing what is going on, obviously something needs to be done and I personally suspect it is against a minority, possibly of one.

What would you suggest then? An end to generous giveaways, heavy forum moderation or simply ignore?[url=][/url]

hedwards: If that's true, things have really changed. It used to be that the fora were a huge source of sales for them. Not just from the actual people in here buying games, but from the word of mouth.

hedwards: I've been getting increasingly disgusted by the arrogance of the GOG management for quite some time now. Exploitive insomnia sales, outright lying about the core values and the patronizing "this is for your own good" BS.

I used to buy a ton of games here, but now I pass on nearly all of them. I'll occasionally buy one, but not anywhere near as many as I used to. I just don't feel like the money is well spent or appreciated.

IAmSinistar: This is sadly true. It is traditional for everyone to argue that "things were better in the old days", and in fact some members where doing that back when I joined, which were my own GOG Golden Days. However, there has been a marked downturn in GOG's responsiveness and transparency. Many changes have been sold in the best possible light, and the candor we once enjoyed from GOG is but a memory now. I fear that we have done what so many fans do - elevated the thing we love into a titan, one which no longer needs us in order to survive.

This is why I never buy the Pollyannaish twaddle that capitalists try to sell me regarding their ideology. Once the money becomes real, everything else is revealed as fake.

mrkgnao: In one of the deleted posts he even bragged that he was using a tool (he got from someone one steam, IIRC and we are to believe him)... His posts makes it seem as if there was more than one person involved, but that may well not be the case. It hardly matters.

mrmarioanonym: and the iceberg is not the scammers and bullies, but the mods indifference.

real.geizterfahr: Now he's got 1001 ;P

hedwards: I've been here since almost the start and things were definitely better in most ways. The forum always sucked as far as the software goes and there were fewer games. But, the quality of the community was much better back then. It wasn't so spammy with stupid bullshit topics and we had some really amazing discussions about sensitive topics that are hard to do online.

I think on some level Mr. Gog took that for granted. But, as they brought in new games and grew a larger population, it attracted people that were more representative of the internet in general. And the constant freebie threads and code drops by members probably haven't helped either.

mrkgnao: Anatomy of a Disrupted Giveaway

Breja: Exactly. Some people seem to think we're making mountains out of molehills, beause of one scammer/troll. But not only is the list of issues much longer (threats, impersonating users, Nigerian Prince scams, basic chat functions still missing etc.) but the real problem is lack of any satisfactory action taken by GOG.

I'm sure the situation will soon calm down, as we move away from the disrupted giveaway, the Nigerian scam etc. but if nothing is done then the mess will only start again in a week or two, and will get even more messy every time.

Cyraxpt: 1- He's a kid (or a manchildren);

lazydog: Thanks for the lengthy post detailing what is going on, obviously something needs to be done and I personally suspect it is against a minority, possibly of one.

What would you suggest then? An end to generous giveaways, heavy forum moderation or simply ignore?[url=][/url]