May I explain - hot-linking, also known as direct linking, is where the download link links directly to the download file, ie you click on the link and the download file starts downloading.

Clickable links to web pages are not hot-links!

Hot-links - direct linking to executables is prohibited on the forums, (read Rule 5) HERE

These are barred from forum/GOTD and GAOTD posts because 1) they could link to malware or prohibited sites, 2) they use band-width that third party sites can and often do object to as band-width theft, 3) It is wise to read and know exactly what you are downloading, 4) most third party sites want you to read their program or game info, 5) most third party sites want visitors to do so via their home page.

If any hot links slip through, it is entirely by accident, as the Spam filter is set up to detect these where possible and block the post.

Any posts that link to known malware sites are also automatically blocked by the sites' spam filter.

A likely explanation for most attempts at posting not working is simply very busy servers. There is a very large amount of traffic to the GOTD and GAOTD sites at busy times given their very well-deserved and enormous popularity! :)

Hi Art Kns, and welcome to the club of unheard users. We all have made that experience now and then. For me it's nearly impossible to post a comment for the gamegiveaway.
Every few weeks we have a new thread with this old topic here in the forums. Here is just one of them: Your comment is awaiting moderation
I know the search-function of these forums is not the best, but when you start searching, you will find a lot of questions and answers ref. to the comments on the main page.
To make it short: The moderators have of course some rules. Besides the moderators there is a spam filter (- sometimes following his own rules). And not to forget the technical glitches...enough suspects who can make a comment disappear.
One of the volunteer administrators/moderators is BuBBy; of course he is not wearing his moderator hat all day long or even every day. However, he is, if possible, very helpful and often found, if possible, a "lost" comment.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/faq/

graylox

Most posts with hotlinks go to the spam folders. The same thing happens with the game giveaway site. thankfully because i have access to the admin module I'm able to edit in the links that i post. Some do get through, but not very often and if there are more than one it will definitely not get through. One of the reasons the owners allowed me access to the admin module was because most of my reviews required hotlinks and I was getting fed up spending hours on a review only to have it chucked in the spam bin.

I don't think size matters though as i've posted very long reviews in the past.

@Chazzo125
I realize that the moderator is not always present. My question was why it didn't post at all (why it did not even reach "waiting for moderation").

As I stated, the size of my post was 3609 characters in 538 words. A subsequent post had 5773 characters in 944 words - over 50% larger! So size alone should not have been the issue.

Hot-linking IS allowed. There were about 1/2 dozen posts containing hot links - many with multiple hot links. Do some posters have special privileges? However, my links were all "cold" - the URL was simple plain text.

I would love to be able to communicate with a moderator. How does one PM him/her? I've tried via the GAOTD forum to no avail.

Yes, I appreciate other's comments. But if mine are for naught then there is no sense in trying.
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@mikiem2
Yes, I learned long ago (the hard way), to compose, edit and save in a separate app before posting.

I did post it twice without any feedback message but did not want to try again in case they actually went through.
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@GMMan, @chazzo125
I did wait to repost but probably not ten minutes. It was my first post to that page (day) and I haven't posted anything in quite some time - at least weeks.

My post never made it to the page so it appears that my best action is to try to contact the moderator if someone will post a "how to".

Canada Post is staging rotating strikes atm. Therefore, posting is kind of hit and miss. This could be an explanation for posting problems on the front page. :)

Please wait at least ten minutes, preferably longer and re-check before re-posting if a first attempt 'fails'. Otherwise all your posting attempts may fail altogether if the Spam system kicks in from duplicate posting and blocks your IP address.

@Dragonlair: Odd, I don't seem to be experiencing many 504s. There were a lot around half a year ago, though.

I've been getting a lot of Gateway 504 errors lately. I guess this site is just to popular and that can cause such as the lost posts.

@Art Kns: Some times the server takes a moment to process the post, but returns you the page immediately. Happened to me with the GGOTD yesterday. Also, maybe posting too many links (or too much stuff, I don't know) might have gotten you put on the spam list. In that case, you won't even see the post go up.

I seem to have frequent failures posting to the daily GAOTD page. Once in a while a post will succeed, usually I see "waiting for moderation" but no true post, and today - nothing. Just a refresh of the page with no trace of my effort.

I've had this happen once in a while, so I don't click the submit button until I've selected/copied the text to Windows clipboard or optionally into Notepad. Then if for whatever reason the site goes dead or I get an error or nothing shows up I can simply paste & re-submit -- if the 1st try *took*, I get a message that I just posted that, & if it didn't take, it should this 2nd time around. :-)

The most likely reason is over-loaded servers. Both the Giveaway sites are extremely popular, and several posts may be posted at the same time. Remember that as well as accepting post uploads, the servers have to cope with a very large number of downloads at the same time at busy times.

The moderators are not always available, with family commitments etc. It is certainly possible that a large post may be particularly problematic if the servers are over-loaded. Hot-linking is not allowed and any post containing hot links is very likely to to be blocked by the computerised spam cleaner. Repeated hot linking may lead to an email address being automatically blocked.

If you think your email address/IP has been blocked, please PM one of the site's moderators to find out why and request unblocking. (All decisions by the moderators are final.)

Please read the forum rules before posting!

Efforts by posters/contributors are very much appreciated!

I seem to have frequent failures posting to the daily GAOTD page. Once in a while a post will succeed, usually I see "waiting for moderation" but no true post, and today - nothing. Just a refresh of the page with no trace of my effort.

Are there size limits? Content triggers? Am I being blackballed?

My post had 3609 characters in 538 words with a number of text URLs. A previous post (by a different person) had 3221 characters in 554 words with a number of hot-linked URLs.

This is very frustrating and de-motivating to contribute any help. It took a considerable amount of time to generate a post analyzing and comparing similar apps. If it is not going to be posted it is not conducive to the effort.