i think that adding the fairies as a post reward was... eh. i preferred them as floating items, since i don't need any and having them float means i can ignore them. of course, i don't really care about the gift boxes either since i'm too lazy to change my posting habits, and the free shop will be open soon enough anyway. i just thought this was kind of funny --

i posted genuine content in some of the conversational chat topics and got nothing. i copy-pasted my latest achievement and got a forum box. i copy-pasted what was in my forum box and... got another forum box. i know this is an extremely limited data pool, but does the algorithm want 180 character tweets or what? lmao. just say you don't want floods of garbage posts, don't couch it under the guise of The Algorithm will pick out Substantial Posts. (unless this means The Algorithm thinks my grandma's christmas ornaments are junk, in which case, rude!)

[edit] You found a forum giftbox while posting! well, alright.

I'm glad some users are making friends because of this. But with this forced social interaction, I feel like that I'm either spamming, talking to myself, or not knowing how to reply other users (or vice versa) xD. It's not a huge deal though since I'm totally OK with not participating anymore.

It's the timing that's frustrating for me. It's nearly Christmas! I'm busy! I just don't have time to participate. Any other time of year would be fine. The free shop is alright, since it requires much less energy, but between family activities and my parent's intermittent WiFi, I've no chance at engaging in 'meaningful conversation'.

I never liked forced social interaction aspect of subeta and no free items will change that. Just saying.

I think knowing that the "algorithm" is demanding substantial posts it's even more annoying than before. Length doesn't determine when a post is substantial. How fast or slow a thread is moving doesn't determine substantial. Knowing that our posts might not even count when the gift boxes are already rare enough is frustrating.

Also this is a good example of stuff that should've been qualified from the start in the news post. (You know, rather than expanding the knowledge base in the middle of a forum thread.) You can't just begin a game, not explaining all the rules, then get annoyed when people complain about the difficulty level.

At this point I'm kind of glad that the boxes typically host fraggable, cheap stuff- people are already busy enough in real life without artificially forced interactions.

Alas. End complaint. At this point, I have no intentions of altering my posting behavior further.

[Edit] You found a fairy while making a post! ...

If staff doesn't want gibberish posts, then they shouldn't be trying to force people into posting on the forums.

I've gotten one so far, not sure how great the drop rate is but it is pushing me to post more!

Eh, fairies as a forum drop struck me as a bit... inconvenient? I ended up just buying the last 50 I needed from usershops because I knew that was the only way I was finishing that achievement this year when I saw the news post. Floating items was great, I got plenty from that. Quests were a bit less fruitful for me, since I had to miss a few days, what with my schedule. Forum drops was right out of the question, sorry.

Two forum boxes, and I have yet to get a fairy from posting, so I think I ended up making the right call.

I've gotten three boxes, but I've made a new friend, and that's worth more than the boxes. I do admit I'm curious as to how an algorithm decides what's substantial, but that's just the nosy programmer in me.

i used to post a lot on those "HA above you" forums for forum points last time, when i wanted to nab some items from the forum shop. a few of those did get me fp! but i dont think posting something like "i think your HA looks like they would be in Gryffindor!" is very substantial idk? though it follows the rules of the game and allows people to show off their HA (which was another reason i did it). how does the algorithm work? would posting an actually relevant word or two be worth less than copy-pasting an achievement? because then i'd probably just post things i do around the site, which sounds silly and who would care about me getting 20 wiz tokens every time, just to rack up a longer sentence.

edit: also nice! i didnt get anything for this post. i expected to, according to the current assumption on how the algorithm works. but fair point that it only increases the chances, not guarantees a drop. but still a little bitter.

Yeah, it does seem kind of weird to determine what posts are substantial or not, and also weird to try and encourage people to talk more by making "substantial" posts, but it still ends up feeling like you're just spamming for boxes.

I don't mind having the forum boxes as an option, but honestly I also wouldn't mind if the idea was scrapped next year and just open the Free Shop for a bit longer or something instead (since the boxes apparently pull from the same item pool).

[edit]Coincidentally got a box while posting this, lol

So we're at the mercy of "The Algorithm"?

Fuck that. I'm around people all day; I go on Subeta to get away from people >_<

However, it's a brilliant way to test server strain, encouraging people to spam the forums over and over. I can't see any other reason to attempt to crash your own site.

Are there exclusive items in the gift boxes or something? From what I understood it was a gamble to maybe get something neat. I think it's a fun way to encourage conversation on the forums. I never got the impression that we were being forced to talk to each other or we missed out on something.

In any case, I really wish there were more conversational threads, it seems that the only ones that are are too massive to even begin catching up to the conversation, or they're dead. I like getting to know other people on the site! It's fun and I wish there was a way to encourage more real talking!

Has anyone been getting anything amazing from these boxes? I've got two so far and neither has contained anything that's tempting me to post more.

Not that I'm complaining, it's a nice little something extra.

Edit: Never mind, got my answer...

I see you say never mind but I can't help myself :D

OK-item OK-item meh-item
OK item

BAM!

meh-item BAM!

meh-item meh-item BAM!

Did you get a BAM yet? :)

I kind of don't like making "substantial comments" because most of the "substantial" things I have to say come out as complaints and I'm trying not to complain so much, lmao. I'm fine with posting on the forums, especially in game threads, but I just don't have a whole lot to actually say and knowing that I'm supposed to for THE ALGORITHM is a bit of a bummer.

I started out with junk posts on the giftbox threads, but that's so mind-numbing I already stopped doing that. I tend to post on a regular base anyway, but now every post feels semi-forced, even if it's not. I might do some extra "what you got from game x / random event" posts, but I won't mass post. Not selling my self respect for a giftbox. :P

What's annoying to me is that we are seeing dozens of 'spam' thread with people literally writting 'boxboxbox' every five seconds for nothing. According to , they are not allowed ... Yet here they are.

Can a staff member confirm that this form of spam is allowed or not? What's going on? What's the truth?

Staff: We don't want spamming! (not officially said anywhere) Subeta: dozens of spamming threads being unchecked Guess that's how it is.

"We don't want spam" & "Post to get fairy/giftbox/raffle ticket/access to Blue Building/etc." are mutually exclusive. One can have only so much "meaningful conversation" before naturally turning to various game threads which are nothing else but spam all the year long. If they are fine then, why not now?