How to minimize thumbs received while still contributing to BGG
Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Please do not thumb this geeklist.
In case there are any folks who, for whatever reason, want to limit the number of thumbs they receive on BGG, I thought a guide might be useful.
So, for the modest, the self-deprecating, and the thumb-phobic...
(Additions welcome)
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1.
Board Game: Twin
[Average Rating:5.33 Unranked]

Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #1: Make contributions to little known games
The most brilliant review of a relatively obscure out-of-print game of no particular note will languish, while far less technically proficient reviews of well known games will soon be covered in thumbs.
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Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #2: Contribute files
While it's possible to have any contribution receive little notice, files are definitely the best type of contribution to have ignored.
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Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #3: Contribute in languages other than English
I suspect that the more obscure the language, the better at avoiding thumbs, but even common languages strongly depress thumbs.
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Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #4: Don't write geeklists
Geeklists tend to be one of the most thumbed contributions; the easiest method is to avoid writing any. If you do feel the need, a personal geeklist with no comments or comments of no general interest are best; trade lists can work as well, and not publishing to the front page helps quite a bit.
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Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #5: Eschew milestone announcements
Forum threads used to be a safe haven from thumbs; this is changing in general, but most speicifically milestone postings always seem to engender significant volumes of thumbs.
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6.
Board Game: Itinerary
[Average Rating:5.68 Unranked]

Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #6: Submit bad pictures of games that don't have any
Before geekmoding, getting bad pictures through was much easier. Nowadays, about the only way to manage it is to take photos of games with absolutely no pictures, such that any picture might be considered better than none.
But pictures often find thumbs; bad pictures - perhaps emphasized by the obscure games laking photos - can usually avoid them.
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Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #7: Make contributions that can't be thumbed
For example:
Submit new games Make Wiki edits Tip good content Make trades Add useful tags and so on...
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8.
Board Game: Chit Chat
[Average Rating:4.30 Unranked]

Jorge Montero
United States St Louis Missouri
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Avoid chit chat at all costs.
It doesn't matter if your post is not funny or lacking insight: You can get dozens of thumbs by just repeating their memes.
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Joe Huber
Westborough Massachusetts
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Rule #9: Contribute on the weekend
Contributions of any variety on the weekend seem to consistently get less attention than those made during the week.
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Rule #10: Beg for thumbs.
We don't appreciate blatant requests for thumbs, because they are selfish, smug, ego-centric, and in poor taste. If you want to minimize thumbs received, grovel for them. Case example #1: "Please thumb this comment" (see comment #2 below)
On the other hand, contributions that specifically request that they not be thumbed, often receive lots of well-deserved thumbs. Case example #2: "Please do not thumb this geeklist" (see list #42404 above)
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Chester Ogborn
United States Albuquerque New Mexico
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Do not have a sense of humor.
Its too easy to make someone chuckle, be it a forum reply, geeklist item or a clever photo-rebuttal in the midst of a flamewar. Geeks with no sense of humor are far more successful at avoiding thumbs.
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Joe Gola
United States Redding Connecticut
Eleven.
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Be nice.
To avoid unsightly thumb stains, be sure to keep your criticisms constructive and well-mannered. Snarky remarks and sweeping, inarticulate generalizations about how a particular game, game designer or subset of gamer classification "suck ass" or "blow chunks" will draw like-minded malcontents out of their bunkers to importune you with unwanted approbation. In the worst-case scenario, you will be labeled as a fearless revolutionary and someone who "tells it like it is" and will become the hero of high school dropouts everywhere.
Other words and turns of phrase to avoid are "hack," "crap," "crap-ass," "pretentious goofball," "torquing the incentive grid" and "boner."
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Matt Dodor
United States St. Paul Minnesota
I'm gonna be the next Canadian Dracula
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Avoid the weekly thrift list
Fifty thumbs for finding Formula De? Why not? Did I upload an awesome file that enhances my experience of FD? No. Did I post a cool new variant? No. And I thought the reward was the money I got selling this game. Fifty thumbs.
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14.
Board Game: Gloom
[Average Rating:6.29 Overall Rank:1187]

J H
United States Billings and Bozeman Montana
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Don't post about the tragedies in your life
...otherwise you'll receive many thumbs of support and encouragement from the BGG community.
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Squirrel away eminently thumbable images in one's personal gallery after said content is mercilessly declined by Geekmod.
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Jeff Miller
United States South Weber Utah
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Adding an Item to a Geeklist:
If you decide to add an item to a geeklist, wait until there's been enough bad entries before it. People will lose interest in the list and jump to the home page before reaching your contribution. Quality aside, they won't thumb what they didn't read.
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Space Monster
United States Canton Michigan
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Do NOT add Busen Memo to a geeklist. Someone will thumb it.
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Chris Hansen
United States Midvale Utah
See my Favorite Contribution Microbadges (Purple Dot) for my collection of reviews from the 2011 Solitaire Print and Play Contest and (Purple Square) for the 2012 Solitaire Print and Play Contest
You are now reading my Avatar Overtext
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Wear a shirt.
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Norbert Chan
Canada Calgary Alberta
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Rule #8: Do not post sexual innuendo vaguely related to games. People tend to ignore these postings and flag them to the admins.
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ErikPeter Walker
United States New Haven Connecticut
Uplifting
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Geeklists that offer any sort of GeekGold reward tend to get thumbed pretty well. Avoid posting them at all costs.
Edit to add: Since I added this, the author of that list removed the "Win GG!" from the list title. A classic move.
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marc lecours
Canada ottawa ontario
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A great way to minimize your thumbs is to add an item to a geeklist after everyone else. Best is to wait 2 or 3 days (or more) before adding the item to the bottom of the list. That way few geeks will notice it. In general the lower your item is on a geeklist the more chance you have to receive thumbs.
Many items on this geeklist have received a bunch of thumbs. I am hoping to show that my method is the best and that this item will receive the fewest thumbs. (and hopefully no geekgold whatsoever.)
It will be tough to receive less thumbs than item 19 so I am aiming for a tie.
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gregory duff
United States Ft.Worth Texas
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Do not run contests where the most thumbed entry wins GeekGold
I have took the friggin' time to offer my hard, slaved over geekMod lovin' GeekGold   to run many a fun friggin' contest. But I receive a minutia of thumbs... Why????? Because the guys that entered don't want the contest on the front page so there are more entries!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I am gonna fix 'em by offering
GreekGold
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Use the tertiary content to offend as many people as possible.
You can post the most insightful analysis of a popular game possible but if your avatar is an animation of a cat being thrown in to a chipper and your sig line insults the parentage of AT fans you won't get any thumbs.
The trick is to offend everyone at once. Some people will thumb you just for a cat mincing picture, you have to isolate their demographic with another insult in a different spot.
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Ryan Hackel
United States Falls Church Virginia
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Leave the third comment. The first one (and sometimes the second one) gets the majority of the thumb traffic. When the comment thread is compressed down to show only the oldest and newest posts, yours will be hidden from view by "Show XYZ more comments...". You're safe!
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----- Come On Baby ----- Light My Beaker
United States Parker Colorado
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Spend most of your BGG time contributing to GeekQuestions. Thumbs there are just for show.
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