Some people are the equivalent of Good Samaritans. They go out of their way to help educate others with no expectation of reward, being that they anonymously post. They spend valuable, irreplaceable time sharing their pearls of wisdom with others who cannot return the favor. There should be some way to acknowledge/reward them and thereby incentivize others to do likewise. The more good deeds and education, the better and more attractive giveawayoftheday.com

https://www.giveawayoftheday.com/video-rotator-4-3/#comment-625883

We never used to get such comments here. Still can't understand the mentality of such people.

Read an interesting article yesterday that I think might appeal to you also, though I'm a bit hesitant, because while it's mostly science-based, there are a few comments, mostly scattered towards the end, that some people might take political offense at. Those comments aren't drastic or nasty, but more asides, but it doesn't always take much to upset some folks nowadays. I can only urge anyone reading it to focus on the science part. I do think it's a good read re: psychology & behavior.

It's actually a review of 3 books, two written by scientists and one by a psychologist, that illustrate & explain some of the ways that our brains & psychology work. And it **might** help explain, if just a little, why some people behave the way that they do, for example trolls.

Based on the article, *My understanding*, which as always could be wrong, is that the trolls do not understand, nor do they want to learn &/or understand the consequences of their behavior, so to them there's no reason not to be a troll. At the same time they actually get a physical rush by being part of a group of like-minded people, in your example people who disliked &/or despised your clan. In real life I suspect many trolls are not as offensive, because there they see more of the consequences of their behavior, but online, they don't see any downsides whatsoever, but only the rush from belonging.

newyorker[.]com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds

That will be brilliant. Maybe they will eventually be able to incorporate code that will ban repeat offenders as well. About time something was done about trolls that generally spoil what otherwise would be a great community to visit.

I used to jointly run a clan site for a small America's Army clan about 12 years ago. We had a brilliant community until we joined with another slightly larger clan. Some of the guys from the other clan abused our server, i.e. let in none vetted friends of theirs who were not part of either clan and we found we couldn't even access our own server at times because the other clans friends were filling up the server slots. When we complained we ended up getting trolls posting inappropriate comments on our clans web site. It got to a point we separated from the other clan, and changed the server password to stop them using the server. All was well until they started spamming our web site with all sorts of filth. We had to close down the site and restart with a new web site, but the extra work put so much strain on me and a good friend who apart from having young families and both of us worked full time, we jointly ran the clan and paid for the server etc; so we appealed to the rest of the clan to help out, but none was forthcoming, so we let the server lapse and just left the web site to itself. It was a shame because for a couple of years we had a brilliant community, playing some excellent games online such as America's Army, one of the early Men of Honor games (the one based on the Japanese conflict) plus two of the Vietnam war games, Battlefield Vietnam and Men of Valor and just having a good laugh via Team Speak.

We never used to get such comments here. Still can't understand the mentality of such people.

blog[.]google/topics/machine-learning/when-computers-learn-swear-using-machine-learning-better-online-conversations/

Today, Google and Jigsaw are launching Perspective, an early-stage technology that uses machine learning to help identify toxic comments. Through an API, publishers—including members of the Digital News Initiative—and platforms can access this technology and use it for their sites.

The GOTD team probably does monitor the forum but, with a specific question for them, you'd be better off contacting them directly via the Contact Form.

Any news about the 404 error with the links in the XML?

The Links in the XML are not working any more.
seems like you implemented a new _GET-Parameter = hash
This is missing in the xml-files.

please fix this quickly.

Still this new system of email-requesting for downloads.
I give up, bye.
Going to find other sites.
Pity, I was one of the first users here.

Just a reminder really -- didn't know if you wanted to lock it so replies, comments, questions etc. went into a new or different thread.

In the daily Email the heading is Giveaway of the Day. Then the Name of the program and what it will do. Sunday Sept 7, 2014 is: AnyMP4 DVD Toolkit is powerful and all-in-one video & DVD converter software, in HTML Format. Then it shows a picture of the box where the software comes boxed in. Then it shows the same line, i.e. AnyMP4 DVD Toolkit is powerful and all-in-one video & DVD converter software. My suggestion would be to add the Software/Program name after Giveaway of the Day, So that it shows as follows: "Giveaway of the Day - AnyMP4 DVD Toolkit." Make it html accessible so that it goes directly to the program page. Then the Line: AnyMP4 DVD Toolkit is powerful and all-in-one video & DVD converter software, which is in HTML format could be deleted, as the Same information is shown again in the Informational Paragraph. This is directed to the moderators or whomever posts the Daily Emails. Respectfully submitted. Andy Prakken

I knew you were still around Sue (hope you don't mind me using your first name?), though i'd not seen you around in a while Chip; but I understand you were completing your uni education over the last couple of years, so it's understandable why you've not had time to help out as much as you used to; (b.t.w. folks, Chip designed the Steam giveawayoftheday group logo)

I'm still here, as well. I help moderate the forums, only; not the 2 giveaway pages/sites :D

Ros, in the USA

I'm still around everyone lol :)

WhiteRabbits' comments about posts appearing immediately referred to these forums.

All comments posted in these forums are seen as soon as they are posted.

If you have an urgent question that needs attention you can have it appear immediately by posting in these forums. Often the comments on the front page are moderated in batches - most frequently at the start of a giveaway when the traffic is highest, then as needed throughout the day.

Dear Whiterabbit - thanks, and impressive.
FYI - my comments on the daily GAOTD are NOT posted right away - they are always awaiting moderation. Thus my post above.

If you are referring to the comments section of the giveawayoftheday, then I can say that the two moderators that I know of that moderate the comments section, one is Russian based and the other Australian. I know of no UK based moderator moderating the comments section. ##

With respect to these forum's I'm sure there are more than one US moderator for these forums. Some I've not seen in a while, others such as Wizzard of Oz have recently returned. As far as I know I'm the only UK based moderator/administrator on these forums. Graylox is Germany based and BuBBy (who also moderates the comments section of the giveaways) is Australia based.

It may be useful to find out how many moderators are still active, both here and over in the giveaway section. Three years ago we had a large number of moderators, but I've not seen many of those around recently.

Even I don't moderate all day like I used to, but that's partly because I'm still in flux with my new home.

I check these forums regularly from around 8am GMT (that's midnight Pacific Time or 3am Eastern Time) and am often still checking at 3 or 4am the following day (that's 8pm Pacific time or 11pm Eastern time); I don't have access to the giveaway comments section but do moderate the game giveaway section.

All comments posted in these forums are seen as soon as they are posted. It's then up to moderators/administrators to moderate the comments after they have been posted. This is different to the comments section on the giveaway and game giveaway page where comments must be moderated before being visible to all.

I've previously volunteered to help with the main sites comments and asked for help with the game giveaway comments section. I did have a volunteer from Canada who was happy to fill in when I wasn't available (and did help me when I was ill a couple of times after I gave him my log in details as I trusted him, but the owners of the site said that they didn't want too many moderators due to the (implied) possibility of sabotage on the admin panel.

If you are posting a request for urgent help in the comments section I'd also consider posting them here in the forums as well because you may get a reply here before the giveaway section.

Love GAOTD, but it seems to be operated out of the UK (or elsewhere in Europe).
So when its moderator - a proper English gentleman - heads home (or to the pub) in the evening for a well-earned pint, new comments from your fans in the US take a long time to be moderated and appear.
Suggestion: GAOTD should find a second moderator in the US who can take over at 6pm London time and then react more quickly to new comments.
Thanks, and Hail Britannia!
glnz, New York

Not posted anything recently but still been looking in...for last couple of years I have basically been having to help out 24/7 with my late Father, virtually no time for gaming or anything but basic daily tasks on computer...Still taking an interest, now have a bit more time to myself so am hoping to keep up with what's going on and adding any of my limited knowledge(if req.)...

p.s. seriously thinking of getting the bundle with the ARMA titles...

Hi Alex, I agree with you w.r.t keeping stuff together. I tried to consolidate my game posts about 2 years ago, after finding I was spending hours every day preparing posts for each bundle or sale (searching the net, researching, writing up and doing the screen captures, uploading to image sites, play testing etc) then I tried to consolidate it all into a couple of posts (as well as reducing the play testing and research), but as more people jumped on the bundle band wagon, and sales were appearing every week on Steam, and other games sites such as Desura, Gamersgate etc, it got too much for me, (I was spending far too much time here than with my family. Things had to change). There’s seems to be at least several bundles available all the time now, with the big three (Humble/Gala and Royale having either weekly, daily and permanent shop sites, and Bundle Stars having several bundles available for months at a time (they have 11 excellent bundles dirt cheap going at this time i.e. (Brutal, Outer Limits, FPS Warriors, Cities in Motion, RPG Champions, Urban guerilla, Planes,Trains & Automobiles, High Octane, Wars of the Ages and Blaze of Glory Bundles). Basically there’s amazing bargains to be had virtually every day these days.

I've recently set up a secondary Steam profile adding most of the games I've got from recent indie bundles and have already added over 300 games, with another couple of hunded to add from bundles I've not processed yet at minimal cost, plus a few sqale itemsd that were deals not to be missed 80% and more off); and that's after giving away over 300 Steam keys a few months ago (I set the secondary Steam profile up so that my sons friends could play online with him when they come to visit, he often has 2 or three friends around, so with my two profiles, his and his sisters they can have a decent LAN party as I've purchased copies of his favorite games for each profile when they have been on sale, or in the case of my secondary profile when for example Left 4 Dead 2 was given away free over the Christmas period)

Thankfully Goo Goo jumped in and took over most of the bundle posts and has been extremely helpful with the free games project since he joined the site about 2 years ago.

I agree that it may be a better policy to keep them under one thread as this would make it easier to find the deals. Graylox did that with THIS bundle, but it's rarely used for some reason.

I'm still plodding away with the free games thread, but with a lot going on in my life over the last year, and a couple of protracted illnesses I’ve let it slide significantly. (both me and David went from playing online together virtually every day back in 2011 to not playing at all from the summer of 2012 onwards.

I'm still trying to bring the Synopsis up to date, but it’s been a losing battle with everything else I’ve been doing. I’ve got a stockpile of free games I’ve tested to post, and have several pages of games from the games forums coded to add to the synopsis, but they've been backed up on disc which are still packed and stored in the attic somewhere and at the moment my database is out of order (can't find the activation code to access the datbase). Unfortunately I haven’t had the time to write up and take screen captures of the games I've accumulated like I usually do, so they remain stored on one of my other external drives waiting for the day I’ll have time to do them justice. :)

Unfortunately most of the people who used to post regularly have moved on to pastures new, or have become too busy to post here, and a few have sadly passed away (scuba guy and pavid). The only regulars left are those that post game details, which is why we are flooded with gaming posts.

I agree that it was a much more interesting place to be a few years ago. The community was very friendly and we had a lot of community members always posting and bantering amongst themselves, in fact I made some good friends via this site thanks to you Alex (via setting up the gamegiveaway group on Steam). Trouble is we all tend to move on for various reasons (finding other interesting sites more specific to their interests, changes of circumstances such as having children, getting a new job, moving house etc). Sadly the applications side of the forums seems defunct of any regulars at the moment and those that answered the technical stuff haven’t been around in a while apart from Mikiem, who still posts fairly regularly and HOSS does his monthly post.

I'm sure as time passes we will see other community members joining the forums as the giveaway project is still going strong despite competition from at least three other similar sites (BitsDuJour, Glarysoft and the Daily Software Giveaway). I still think the Giveawayoftheday is the best apart from maybe BitsDujour (at least with respect to applications) because you can reinstall many of the BitsDuJour programs legally, but they don’t give apps away every day and they don’t cover games. In fact I don’t think any site covers games (not counting sites like MyPlayCity/Gametop/ Jenkat Games and FreeGamePick)

Most sites have their ups and downs, I’m sure the Giveaway forums will return sometime in the future.

It's winter in the Northern Hemisphere... we need to Bundle Up!

A walk along memory lane...

Welcome back Wizz.

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems like this forum is flooded with all these different bundle posts. Can't we just have one bundle topic that you could keep posting to??? Seems like relevant posts are getting lost in the ocean of bundles. Also, as much as I enjoy games, has anyone else noticed how 90% of the posts here are about gaming? This forum used to be a place to go for talks on all software and general internet talk. Technical problems were brought to the members looking for resolve and advice. These days, that advice is going ignored because no one is here to help. There used to be 10-15 topics a day on this site, and now you're lucky to have 5. Just saddens me to see this site as a ghost of its former self.

Thu, 17 Oct 2013 The best free Mac OS X games: Free Apple Mac games you should play:

The 10 best free games for the Ma

Free apps, free music: Apple's 12 days of Gifts giveaway, Day 4: Toca House

12 Days of Free Apple Gifts

Check out Paddle: https://www.paddle.com/

They don't have a lot of freebies at the moment, but they do have a lot of specials and bundles on Mac software, and if you sign up for their newsletter, you'll find out about more specials and freebies as they become available.

I've bought from them before (Windows games, and a couple of Windows freebies), with no problems.

Pllllleeeeeeaaasssseeeee

Oh that's interesting, thanks for that, didn't realise it's a Wordpress platform.

I guess there's only so much you can do.

Yes that would be great if they would add a reply to comment feature :-)

Yeah, I always have found that annoying too. Really nothing can be done unless Wordpress updates their platform. A nice reply to comment feature would be a welcome addition I think.

Hi imontheinternet! Not to worry; this happens to those of us who make comments, at one time or another :) You are right in that the comment numbers are assigned during moderation.

You did the right thing with your comment: you not only referred to the comment number (which may have changed in the meantime), you also referred to the name of the commentor. Those together will always help the reader know which comment you were referring to.

Hope that helps.

Oh dear!

My comment was just published (re Format Converter 5 Pro, 29 Sep 2013, comments 19 & 20).

It doesn't seem to make sense now though because I referred to the numbers of certain comments as well as their names and the numbers no longer relate to the names.

They definitely were correct at the time I made my comment I promise.

Oh no!

Not sure how this might be solved. Do you smart people at Giveaway of the Day have any ideas?

It could not be helped by the fact that your comment receives a number while waiting to be moderated...?

I'd also still love it if comments were able to be made directly under another comment when you want to refer to it.

Thanks so much for your help.

:-)

Hello Haqy,

I am afraid we haven't updated the theme for ages. It should be compatible with the latest version of WP, as we use it as basic theme for our site. Still if you need additional features, you can try to implement it on your side.

As for poedit, unfortunately it is not in our plans.

--
Sorry for the inconvenience,
GOTD project team