Giveaways, help us define and make this section for the community

All right, seeing some of the posts in here and I want to clarify some things about this section. I'm also going to ask for your help.

This is a new section here on Guru, we are trying this out and are pleased so far with the response. I think it will be here to stay but we need some ground rules here. Some of the concerns that the Guru staff has in this section is the way to manage it, prevent people from creating multiple accounts just to get stuff, etc.

First up, before I post official rules in another thread I wanted to see if you, the community, has a great way to handle all this.

Should we have a specific format for people to post items as in "everything given away will be random and at the OP's discretion"? I'm leaning toward this because I really don't want to see flame wars erupt over "hey, i posted first that belongs to me." You know it will happen, just nod your head. Either way, if an OP decides to give them away in order or randomly we can establish this as a rule so that people WANTING these items can be clear and not have melt downs when they find out the item has gone to someone else even though they were the "first post wanting it".

Secondly, if you create alternate accounts to get more free items, it's going to be a ban. No one wants to be used/scammed/or to have their generosity abused. Please keep that in mind and that we will find you out.

Third, this is not going to be a place for requests. We have a "Want to Buy" section especially dedicated for requests. Only giveaways will be featured here. Period.

If you have any other concerns as a user posting in this section, feel that one of these rules should be changed (and you must present me with some well-thought and detailed arguements and not just a vague voice of dissent) then please post.

it's always nice to have rules to follow.....
makes life easier..
^^


as for sugestion.....
i know it's hard to do.. but....
there may be a easier way for the OP to update their item list?
as in..... putting the items in a bullet list format when they start the thread.
it can be opened when ppl click on start new thread....
in my idea is... it may look something like 2 lines for 1 item...
1 line is the name..... 2nd line is the detail... such as mod and stuff..... which is optional.

and when they come back... (to the thread they start)
they can see the OP-only option already there for them to edit....
which may contain special colum to add short comments..... such as it's being sold to xxx.
instead of needing to click on editing.
(this same thing can apply to other 3 selling/buying forum too)

although editing works too.. but..... it might be easier..

Hmm, perhaps make the section only viewable to those who have made 50 posts? Or have been a member for 30days or something of the sort?

I love the section and hopefully a lot of good will come from it...but there will be those 'vultures' who sit and wait on new posts to be the first to try and snatch up a rare skin or something with good mods. Thats why in my thread, I gave the item to someone who I felt needed it. Not the first person to ask. I tried to stay away from april 07 joindates unless I could tell they had been active on the forum (avatar, higher than pre-searing cadet, etc) which would seem they had contributed to the forum somewhat. But with the good...comes the bad.

The only way I can see to 'counter' this is perhaps to use the 50 posts or join date to allow them into this section. Which will prevent a lurker or random joining to snatch up an item. And it will also prevent multi accounts...unless of course they spend the time to make the posts or whatever on all their accounts.
Also perhaps require everyone posting to 'reserve' and item had to of posted a give-away post as well, empowering the saying "You get out what you put in"

Perhaps a moderator to keep an eye on the section for...request posts. As everything was going perfectly and I fell in love with the section until someone had asked for several items instead of looking through the posts where people were already offering. Other than this I thought this section was doing very very well and had an amazing response from the community.

i dont know am i right, but..... i think most of theese ppls are greedy and are going to sell those items after they get them. and they are all here because they want something. i always check PC section and answer what i can and what i know. but most of them just come here and their first post is " hey, i d like a kuunavang or bone dragon or water djjin..." i only asked one bloody beetle juice and -50 cesta because i needed it. i dont wanna say more, 'cause some members will start flaming me etc. GL in keeping this section alive

It's indeed better if the giver would define his rules forehand to avoid arguements etc, keep it up ít's quite a handy thread

Quote: Originally Posted by shrouded^god

I think an account should have at least 10 days or somthing unless there is a very good way to moniter ip's or somthing. Perhaps it could be left in the hands of the op if that is at all possible.

As for ideas, this is a bit mad right now, first thing needed is a sticky with clear cut rules like the other threads imo. And also if this section becomes large/succsessful enogh there could be a better way of monitering which is taken or not as iifa suggested, the first post for example must have had 15~ people loking for the juggernaut.

If the op's could be trusted mabay it could go the way of the guild recruiting area as in no replies this would end any flame wars / "i posted first" idea as if its via pm an op could more eaisly say who he/she gives the item to. Could be a bit extreme though and would require alot of op attention or somthing iifa suggested. I also think this place will need some strick moderation for its early days

But yea i hope this floats, its a great idea

i think it should be the OP's discretion to give to who he wants...no "request threads" as you stated already..and no alternate accounts, because being a former mod i know you *will* be found out, not worth the time or effort to do so.
as for people turning around and re-selling, its their own choice. people are giving things away, the player who receives the item can do with it what they want.

about the.... keeping new account out of the section.... is like a double edge sword...

because...usually.. and after all.....
the free stuffs that are being given away mostly are not the so-called perfect item.
thus.. usually when OP want to give it out.. they have a thought in-mind that.. they are helping the newer players...
and since they are new players.. they most likely wont have high post counts..


i know it's hard to keep out the greedy ppl..
but..... like alot of other places.... there's not a very good solution to solve the problem....
IP clone detection might work...... if the guy donno proxy.

another problem is ppl selling the freebie stuffs.....
i think it is wrong to sell items that other ppl give you in good well...
but.... imo... this is even harder then detecting the clone acc.
unless everyone keep an eye on this...... it is impossable to catch it..

Just a little easier side note, not sure if already mentioned; If posters, the people giving away items, once they have checked, updated, delivered and cleared their list to just do an end post yo signal an admin to lock the thread. This would just prevent alot of unessary spam for people trying to look at purely updated and active reuqests. I dont know just an idea if possible

I'm liking the idea of giving things out at random, as i had some 1 pm me 2day saying can i collect my item.

so i told him i already gave it out as i wanted to get rid there and then.

then he started complaining how he posted 1st >.<

its free for god sakes, u didnt pay for it fcoff

Looking at the Woespreader and Scareater thread, you see posts within a minute or two of someone posting. It makes you wonder if people really need them, or just want to add to their collection.

I check this area for certain items, but I cannot be on here 24/7 so it makes it harder for the less internet capable of actually getting items in Giveaways, because of the compulsive checkers or those who are actually abusing the new section and selling the items. It would be nice for people who have jobs or other obligations to get items too. Casual players should be the one to benefit from something like this too.

I disagree with what onerabbit said about giving away items. If you bothered to post free items, I feel like you should honor the requests from the posts and not give away the items randomly to someone else.

I've posted in a couple of threads requesting items and I do not know if I will get the item or not, but I would also like to know at some point if I just wasn't online at the right time or the item was given to someone else. Most items will be gone within 12 hours of the original post, at least for now... so perhaps the thread life should be 24 hours and the OP can perhaps list those who received the items.

I am not sure honestly if that would be too much effort for free items, but there should be some sort of regulation. People have work or school, and can only be on certain times of the day, and so there needs to be rule that gives those people a fair chance to claim their items.

Most aren't rules, but thoughts I think should be touched on.

I really like this section, but I'm not sure that it will ever work the way we all want it to. Certain people will always be greedy and try to grab as many free items as they possibly can. That's why this section can't work on a first-come-first serve basis- but there's really no other way of doing it besides randomly selecting someone. And that has it's problems, too- people start making alternate accounts to raise their chances of getting what they want... etc.

I liked the idea of allowing this section only for members of a certain length of time or number of posts... but that doesn't work all the time either. I've been a member for a few months now, and visit the site pretty frequently, but I still don't post very much.

As of now, there's really not much to do, except hope that this section doesn't turn into place for greedy players to grab free stuff only to sell later. We'll see.

Its good to have some rules set up, hopefully this section will keep being as friendly as it is.

Maybe this is an idea, people could only reply to a thread here once a week or so, to avoid people grabbing up all the items one by one, however this would also limit the topic starter.

Its just a subject of personal trust here i guess.

actually... i just had an idea....
addition to the enforcement of the clone detecting...
admin can add a limited number of post per person a day in the freebie section.
(starting thread wont get counted into this.. because they are the giver)

so.... this way.... each ppl wont get more then X number of item... because they are limited to only X number of reply post to the freebie section.
thus... let them really think about what they want....
also lower the forum's bw pressure.....
and gives those who don't have time a chance to get stuffs too.

theres a way mods can see if its an alternate account, and for the first few days/week it would be important to check a good amount of threads/posts

That's a really good idea iifa. By limiting the posts per person every day, people won't be able to hang around the section all day waiting to be the first one to grab new freebies.

Limiting posts is not a standard VBulletin function everyone. Now we are talking about a mod/hack for just 1 particular forum. And even then there's no way to limit the posts without limiting an OP themselves if they want to respond in their thread. It's just not feasible to implement something like this. Otherwise it would have all ready been done for our sell forums.

This forum would be alot better if the people who posted here would be more honest and would actually USE what was given to them instead of just going back to sell it. Many people will probably be in this forum, like other's have mentioned, to see what good stuff they can get for free, and most likely just sell it. Also if any item is just given at random, it will most likely be something they dont need and they will end up trashing it or selling it. Best thing we could do on this forum is get posters to choose an item that would be helpful to them. But that's kind of hard to do. Not many honest people here.

< You see this title its one above pre searing cadet, and i just got it today. As you can see i've been a member here for over a year now and am not much of a poster. I like reading the other posts on guru cause i like the setup the look and the active community it has. (and the auction system which is cool, but ive only used once). So far as to rules i'd like to apply to the giveaway section is the users account must be atleast 2 weeks old with atleast 1 post thats legit, (anything can backfire, some jerk could make 50 accounts today and keep using them for eternity). I suppose 1 extra mod couldnt hurt to look over the section, seeing as one thread earlier got out of control with no reason at the time of what was happening.

Soon enough im going to create a give away thread of my own with over 30 items gold and purple, but untill rules are set and i read the outcomes of other threads i'm going to wait. Cause personally im not sure if its gonna be a first come first serve situation, how im gonna even be able to deliver to all those people in a given time without them calling me slow and pm'ing me like crazy which sounds like whats happening. I guess you can add that as a rule to no pm'ing the giver unless stated other wise.

I agree that weeding out those only here to make a profit from the free items is a good idea and that doing so is problematic but giving out stuff to people who have made a certain number of posts won't work either. The greedy will just post more and so be eligable to ask for the items again. I am a regular on these forums and have been a member for over a year but have only posted 3 times. I know my join date is feb 2007, that is because i had a problem with membership and so reregistered.

I'm sure that anyone who regularly checks the pages to see what is being sold will spot the names of those posting items for sale that they were given and so will be able to bring this to the attention of the moderator, who can then deal with the greedy as they see fit.

Also the first come first served thing wont work long term, i for one don't sit here constantly refreshing the page to be first in line for new posts. I prefer the thrill of maybe getting something i need, rather like a raffle, because lets face it if you don't get something you need it will make you work twice as hard to get the cash to buy the item.