What does lugum having pirated games in the past have to do with other GOG users? I cannot imagine how on earth could any user have been hurt by his past piracy.

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And yes, "gifters" should shut the fuck up about how gifting is what makes the community special. No, it fucking doesn't. Exchanging games - don't you dare to call it "generosity" if you're expecting payback and calling people "leeches" - is what a relatively sharply delineated group of people do in the community. And because participating involves spending time on the forums (as opposed to doing something else such as playing games and coming to post results) and isn't intellectually demanding otherwise, General Discussion is completely overrun with +1s (and the worst offenders, "not in but +1", because, out of 50 threads you're not interested in, it's the most vapid one that deserves to be seen by more people) to the detriment of content that takes more than half a brain cell to post.

"Gifters" are the equivalent of a foreign language-speaking group on an English forum, of My Little Pony porn enthusiasts on a general porn site, of 13 year old kids on xbox. And yet, many of them react with annoyance and verbal abuse at suggestions of filters or a separate forum.

It isn't particularly likely that they even benefit GOG financially, because participating in a raffle may lead to lost sales (as in: a game goes on sale, threadstarter buys a copy, a bunch of people line up for it, and when that copy is assigned, the promo is over and no one in the thread wants to buy the game they would've otherwise bought on promo now that it's at full price).

Get off your high horses, and cut out that generosity bullshit. Once you demand that people "give back to the community" and demand mods ban them when they don't acquiesce, to the point of playing brainfart detective and pursuing them across the internets, you're not gifting, you're trading cash around for fun and being hypocritical assholes about it.

I have mentally excluded people from my giveaways. Not based on their posts, rep or how many games they won or entered. I do not care how many giveaways you enter, entering them all does not make you greedy, it makes you a gambler. Winning a lot does not make you greedy, it makes you lucky. seeing someone win a game and the same game is on there [Have} list on the trade forum...makes them greedy. Seeing someone win a game, and then trade or regift that game later, means they are greedy. OF course I a ma compulsive gambler who is somewhat lucky, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. But I have redeemed every key I won.

This is an example of the kind of attitude that I don't like and you've almost answered your own point - it's a rationalisation of addictive behaviour: "what I do is OK because the other guy does something worse." I don't mean to single you out, there are shades of grey here and we're all guilty of this in different ways, it's part of human nature.

By taking whatever you can just because it's there is greed, it isn't in the spirit of community. At the risk of being accused of being a commie, I'd like to see prizes be spread more widely. Every time someone takes a game for the sake of it, or to profit from, then they're denying somebody else who really does want it the chance to enjoy it.

My point was that I take a game with the intentions of playing, hence I immediately redeem it, not to profit, and not because it is free. I only enter for games I know I will actually play or want to check out, not to add a notch to the belt per se, though there are those out there.

Also there are TONS of big giveaways that a lot of users do not enter. Communism only works if the whole community participates :) If there are 20 or 30 people that enter a lot of giveaways, you can imagine that the prizes are mostly being spread to those 20 or 30.

It's perfectly correct and I see it written this way regularly.

I have a question to all of the people who limit some users from winning their giveaways. Have you ever had to reroll? I have only done a handful of GA in the forums, I use the Steamgifts group for most GA. I have not had to reroll any of them. Or do you simpy leave my name off of the random.org list? I mean the name of the person you are excluding....

You wouldn't stoop to such a low level though, would you?

I've sometimes left names off the list/out of the running. Most of the time, there's no real need to do so, but my giveaways generally have very simple requirements and if someone can't be bothered to read/follow these easy qualification reqs, I simply leave them out of the drawing.

Absolutely nothing. It only illustrates GOG's tolerance for infractions. I'd imagine piracy is pretty high up on the list of things you can screw up. It's certainly higher than harassing users, apparently, as they've done nothing in those cases.

Fair enough, and I sort-of agree. Yes, lugum is an extreme case, but I think it got this way by way of the general tendency of people to keep quiet and hope it will all get better if we ignore it. I don't believe the "Ban Lugum" thread served any useful purpose besides throwing a wrench into the calm proceedings around here. Similarly, I don't agree with the outspoken condemnation of so-called leeches. So, yes, Starmaker, I actually agree with what you're saying, for the very same reasons. But at this point, I'd rather see some more open discussion on any of these matters, than simply sweeping them back under a rug for the sake of peace and quiet.

To those who question the evidence I showed, further evidence was provided privately of unlocked redump.org torrents on other sites that appear to be more than "just hashes". Search for yourself if you are doubtful and draw your own conclusions. I made a hasty assumptions based on evidence of a bannings in the past of another members for what appeared to be a/scamming and b/ piracy.

I am unable to comment further on this matter as I have been requested not to mention someone's name nor respond to them publicly by GOG staff. I would have posted a thread with a public apology regarding my methodologies and vitriol but did not wish to inflame the situation further. This thread seems an appropriate place to mention that apology and lessons learned.

Forum changes won't occur any time soon which lead me to this perspective in response to someone saying the forums should be shut down:

"Or alternatively find peace within until you can return to this place and not feel that way :) Given the issues I've had with these forums, choosing to take breaks and focus on figuring out why I can be so angry, upset and reactive to words on a screen has provided me with far more lasting change than asking others to change to suit my needs. Just a thought :)"

This was an addition to my apology here "I am learning to re-evaluate my methodologies in all aspects of life, and this must start with myself...My apologies to those I have upset or offended on these forums with matters raised in other threads. The 'positives' that can come from the 'negatives' of such expression are many as discourse leads to change. I am learning that my own expression can be rather negative at times, and I am endeavouring to change that through exploration, finding balance and returning to good health. We are all 'merely' human and I hope to share these experiences and lessons learned through writing when I am in a healthier state of body, mind and spirit. "

Laughter is one of the best medicines :)

She's a witch! ~ Monty Python