1. There is no such thing as a "pending" ban or Steam admin. Anyone threatening your account is a scammer trying to scare you. Read more.

Questions/Suggestions

Discussion in 'SteamRep General Discussion' started by Maddux, Apr 20, 2013.

  1. Maddux

    Maddux New User

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    Hey guys, i'm some what new to the trading circuit and i have a few questions, if you have some time i would love to get some answers.

    Questions

    1- I looked briefly around at trading etiquette and it seems like just common courtesy and general respect seems to be well respected. And common sense is quite an important aspect from what i notice.

    2- I enjoy playing bio shock and magika, working in source SDK and such more than playing TF2 its self, is that frowned upon here?, and would i still be able to interact on community websites even though i'm not a "tf2 addict"?

    3- What is the general age of users here? Steam Rep seems well managed and i was curious how old the staff here is?

    4- Are there any "pro tips" i need to go over before delving to deep into trading? Sort of thing i should know so that i don't come off in the wrong light to other users. Things i should/should not do, ect

    Suggestion

    1- Report templates- I browsed through some of the forum sections and you need to fill out a template in order to submit a scam report and appeal a ban? Why not just have users fill out a template instead of relying on users to look through posts and such in order to format properly. Seems it would save staff quite some time when they are trying to resolve issues here. I have some knowledge with web design and i'm pretty sure XenForo has a plugin you can download that allows you to set up a template for posts.

    I hope these questions or suggestions were not to noobish, I'm here quite some time today so if any of you have some time and would like to help me out, or play some magika and such, id love to hang out some time.

    I can lend a hand setting up the template, but from the looks at what you guys have complied on this website, it seems you guys don't need help at all lol. Hope to catch some of you guys around!
    VenGanZa likes this.
  2. atom-

    atom- Retired Staff

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    SteamRep Admin:
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    1. Can't really see a question here but yes common courtesy, respect and sense are important when trading. It is important in whatever engagements you have whether online or real life. The way you interact in trading is a great indicator of the type of person you are and how you go about treating others, especially when money is involved.

    2. Of course there is no harm having other gaming interests than TF2 and you won't be 'frowned upon' but if you actually had a good look around this site. we are not a community site per se. We have forums for reporting and appealing, these are our main functions. Our general discussion section is kept relevant to the area of Steam trading and concerns, events which would affect it. I really don't see places where you would have the chance to bring up your own personal interests, unless you were applying for a moderator position or they were relevant to a scammer report you have made. This forum is merely a receptacle to support our trader database.

    3. We have a diverse age range but 18+ is definitely a good measure as a minimum. However, I believe a few of our mods are under that age, Helen can probably confirm that. The more senior SR admins have a few more years on them.

    4. In our Steamrep Guide section there are a comprehensive list of threads which detail the ins and outs of trading and even more. A protip I can give you is looking for information independently, digesting it and using it. We have a lot of information on our site, readily available without any enquiry. We have stickies which outline information clearly in each section, if you do lodge a report or an appeal, I suggest you read them thoroughly before posting. I will emphasise, read and understand the information on our site concerning trading and there's not much you can do wrong.

    http://forums.steamrep.com/forums/steamrep-guides.22/

    This sticky is a good start to trading.
    http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/beginners-guide-to-trading-selling.677/

    Like I said, it's all on our site. A bit of initiative to look for it definitely would place you in a good light.

    Also to your suggestion, we are always looking for ways to streamline SR's mechanisms. The template suggestion has been brought up a few times by forum members. I believe avenues to implement this or something similar are being explored by Mattie.

    I hope your questions have been answered here. Welcome to SteamRep, hope our tool helps you with safer trading. :)
    VenGanZa and Maddux like this.
  3. Maddux

    Maddux New User

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    Thanks for the quick answers Atom! I was looking deeper into the website and did not realize it was-int a full blown community website. Very very interesting tool though, wish some other big name platforms like xbox live had something to this extent, but obviously that would not really be applicable there.
    When you say look for information independently, do you mean don't take others words for item values? From going through each of your affiliated websites it seems backpack.tf is the price check central.
    Also, very happy to hear that there is "elder" group of staff that work here. I'm 19 my self and did int want it to come off "creepy" that some body a bit older is into these games. Helen is a valve community manager? or a SteamRep community manager, she seems very well spoken as well. From what i see that's defiantly not the case, TF2 seems to not be age specific contrary to what i previously though.
    Currently i'm reading and checking to make sure that i'm caught up on the trading rules and guidelines. Very very in depth this seems to be. I'll make sure i post here or elsewhere if i have questions.
    Awesome to hear that the template idea was already being discussed, hopefully it will be implemented shortly so that strain wold be taken off the staff. Also, Mattie is the owner of the website? or is he a senior staff member.
    I'm happy to see that this seems to be a welcoming website and as i read and research and understand more i would be greatfull to lend a hand here. Also, for a community application, are there any prior things that a community has to have before applying for a community application? Such as a certain amount of members and such?

    Hoping to get involved and play some games with you guys, thanks again for the response and ill make sure i go over relevant information to protect my self.
  4. DataStorm

    DataStorm Retired Staff

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    1. Value of items is gleened on backpack.tf, tf2outpost, and tf2tp. The first by checking individual items and their prices, and the others by looking at past trades and the offers that got trough. price checks (or "pc") can also be asked of friends or ppl you trust. but not everybody is willing to give them. There is also a "spreadsheet" baptized by me to "SpreadCheat". its nice for a general indication, but not much more.

    2. Ppl of all ages trade, I encountered ppl in their 60's and older.

    3. SteamRep has no affiliation with Valve. Helen is Head Reports Admin and Community Manager here on SteamRep.

    4. Questions relevant to guides can most often be asked in the guide thread itself, for improving the guide or just general info to others as well.

    5. Templates have been discussed for a long time, but with the reports being for a very wide area of problems in trading, its hard to make it a "one size fits all" solution.

    6. Community applications should observe that they must have been using our plugin/api for some longer time (several months at least), and be well established. People have been trying to add "communities" that where made up of 3 admins and 3 members created yesterday... obviously we won't be considering those. A community is something the owner/admins must work on, let grow, and be a service.

    7. A note, I never saw SteamRep as a community, we serve other communities and traders in general to help steer clear of scammers. We don't develop the same services as those communities, and are not competing to them.
  5. atom-

    atom- Retired Staff

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    SteamRep Admin:
    STEAM_0:1:19172005
    When looking for 'price checks' don't take a single site as gospel. Go on a diverse range of servers and see what prices your items may go for. Find a general median and go from there. Knowledge is power. If you have an idea of the spread of prices your particular item has then it will make your trading decisions easier.

    Helen is our community liason/PR manager as well as our head admin for scam reports. She does a stellar job. I can safely say the senior admins at SR are aged 20+, even pass 40 I believe, so 19 doesn't come across as creepy at all.

    Mattie is the mastermind behind the fantastic functionality of our database as well as the forums. Yes he is a senior staff member but head coder of the site. If you go to www.steamrep.com (like I said, all our information is either on our site or our FAQ section) Diego is the owner and founder of SteamRep.

    Regarding community applications, all the requirement information is in that particular subforum with a particular sticky which outlines it.
    http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/community-application-format-read-this-first.6166/

    Also all your questions may already be answered in our FAQ sections. It is always a good resource to reference first before posting on our site.
    http://forums.steamrep.com/pages/faq/
    http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/expanded-faq-recommended.7263/
  6. DataStorm

    DataStorm Retired Staff

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    3,437
    <<<=== Catorcian ninja
  7. Maddux

    Maddux New User

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    Thanks DataStorm for the quick answers! Also, my cousin just printed out a picture of your profile picture, he things its the funniest thing lol. Thank you for clearing up some more of my questions, sorry if it was a long list of questions, just wanted to be prepared.
    Also, on the template subject, would it be possible, depending on how the user was scammed for them to select a different template? So lets say you were Paypal scammed, you can select a certain template that would have the relevant information you need to fill out a proper report for Paypal scams. And impersonation scams, game scams, and so on. And if it fits none of those categories the user can select a regular text system like there is now so he can explain it that way. And so users don't have to go searching around for the information they need to fill out the template, there can be a small question mark next to each part you need to fill out that when scrolled over it will explain where to obtain this info. Also, this could help with 3rd party reports and appeals in the fact that when a user is filling out the report, it will automatically take the reporters steam info block and paste that into the certain section and make it non editable so that only the person who is reporting a Paypal scam and such is the user that was compromised.

    Thank you for putting together these guides as well, defiantly helped out a newer player such as my self.
  8. DataStorm

    DataStorm Retired Staff

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    well, there is so many different ways for scams and ppl not aware beforehand that its a big questionaire.

    money payments: real life cash handout, paypal, bitcoins, and other online payment systems, up to and including bank transfers have been reported. Each with their own problems and perks.

    Reporter can be victim, translator if the victim doesn't speak english, and reporting in their behalf etc.

    Victim(s): can be somebody that is being impersonated, the person losing items/money, (also, we consider a failed attempt to somebody to be "victim of a scam attempt" and those reports are handled too).

    Items: TF2, Dota2, steam trade games, gifted games, CD-key games (which we don't support unless the proof is very clear). Items can have been stolen, retracted by steam support, etc.

    Scammers: can be impostors, known traders that gone bad, multiple scammers in a trade (buyer baiting, fake MM etc)

    Fake links/hijacking sites: hijacking, but those accounts are often hijacked themselves.

    And I stop now, as you can see its a huge undertaking to support each and every type of problem that may occur. We've come to the report format to be able to have a "general" format which ppl can use to report it and tell their story. mods ask questions and handle it till all information is satisfied, then a admin comes along once its on "ready for review" and will make a decision to mark or not.
  9. Maddux

    Maddux New User

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    Steam:
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    Thanks for the response, i really am appreciative it. Again, id like to appoligize to your self and Atom for not going through and reading the sticky notes posted, i realize now i should have. I guess you can close the thread if you want, thank you for talking the template idea out with me, i can see there are many flaws in it. Sorry for using up your time, as i can see there are a lot of reports and such that are more important than this, im the future ill make sure to read and research before i go about asking to many questions. Thanks again guys!
  10. VenGanZa

    VenGanZa User

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    I was born in 1962, so if you think you are "creepy" wtf am I?

    Enjoyed reading your posts, you seem like a nice dude. Peace out.
    Maddux likes this.
  11. DataStorm

    DataStorm Retired Staff

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    np, ppl ask questions anyhow, things get some attention by others, etc, and in the end it will be helpful to somebody else as well.

    There are ppl out there that just add a admin and start asking questions via chat. which wont do anything for anybody else. Open questions and answers can be viewed by anybody. (and will be searchable by google with those wordings... )