# Contest ↔ Review Dynamics — Full Timeline with Post Links ## Steam Inventory Helper — companion to `REVIEW-MANIPULATION-EVIDENCE.md` *Compiled 2026-10-11. Review counts = CWS written reviews in the 7-day contest-entry window (contest_end −7…+1 days); form contests = 8-day window from announcement. All post links: `https://t.me/sihofficial/`.* --- ## 1. THE FLIP — 2025-03-07 (post 796) **Before (2024-10 → 2025-02):** 15 weekly contests, 400–1,300 participants each — and **2–6 reviews per week** (pure organic; the Telegram contests did not touch the store). **After (week of 2025-03-07 onward):** the same weekly contest cycle produces **40–120 reviews per week**, 85–95% of them 5★, synchronized with the contest cycle for the next 15 months (88 contest weeks tracked). | Metric | 2024-10…2025-02 | 2025-03…2026-05 | 2026-06…2026-10 | |---|---|---|---| | Avg written reviews/week | **2.6** | **34.5** | 8.4 | | Weekly contest participants | 400–1,366 | declining 516→200 | 125–230 | | Reviews per contest week | 1–9 | **38–122** | 3–25 | The flip week coincides with extension v2.3.5/2.3.6 (update post id 793, 2025-03-07) — the version carried by the March 2025 5★ flood — and with the ad-injection rollout that triggered the 1★ backlash the same month (28 negatives, the most since 2017). From that week, review flow tracks the contest cycle almost perfectly: **every contest week = a review burst week**. What changed in the contest format is not visible in the public EN channel (entry conditions run inside **@ContestMasterBot** / external pages, e.g. `t.me/ContestMasterBot?start=contestWinners_iydXfs`). The review-for-entry requirement is *explicitly* documented only in the three Google-Form contests (§3 below) — but the weekly synchronization from 2025-03-07 leaves little doubt the same mechanic was added to the standing weekly contests. --- ## 2. WEEKLY CONTESTS ↔ REVIEWS (all 84 "contest is over" posts) Format: `post link | contest ended | participants | reviews in entry week | 5★ | 1–2★` ``` t.me/sihofficial/329 | 2024-10-17 | 965 | 2 | 0 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/372 | 2024-10-26 | 739 | 2 | 1 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/443 | 2024-11-08 | 727 | 4 | 2 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/506 | 2024-11-25 | 466 | 3 | 3 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/588 | 2024-12-12 | 539 | 2 | 1 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/608 | 2024-12-19 | 1268 | 2 | 0 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/625 | 2024-12-26 | 937 | 1 | 0 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/645 | 2025-01-03 | 898 | 1 | 0 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/658 | 2025-01-10 | 1013 | 3 | 1 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/678 | 2025-01-17 | 1222 | 2 | 1 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/693 | 2025-01-24 | 1199 | 2 | 2 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/717 | 2025-01-31 | 1366 | 5 | 4 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/734 | 2025-02-07 | 1197 | 5 | 4 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/753 | 2025-02-14 | 1306 | 9 | 6 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/769 | 2025-02-21 | 1198 | 11 | 8 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/781 | 2025-02-28 | 1108 | 6 | 5 | 1 ─── THE FLIP ─── t.me/sihofficial/796 | 2025-03-07 | 719 | 46 | 27 | 16 ← program starts t.me/sihofficial/812 | 2025-03-14 | 605 | 95 | 74 | 16 t.me/sihofficial/837 | 2025-03-21 | 542 | 79 | 72 | 6 t.me/sihofficial/881 | 2025-03-28 | 508 | 70 | 66 | 4 t.me/sihofficial/922 | 2025-04-04 | 516 | 53 | 49 | 4 t.me/sihofficial/962 | 2025-04-11 | 531 | 88 | 79 | 7 t.me/sihofficial/1001 | 2025-04-18 | 422 | 68 | 61 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/1062 | 2025-04-25 | 409 | 38 | 32 | 4 t.me/sihofficial/1099 | 2025-05-02 | 406 | 48 | 45 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/1132 | 2025-05-09 | 458 | 48 | 43 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/1169 | 2025-05-16 | 330 | 65 | 54 | 10 t.me/sihofficial/1203 | 2025-05-23 | 251 | 49 | 42 | 7 t.me/sihofficial/1265 | 2025-05-30 | 240 | 42 | 38 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/1339 | 2025-06-07 | 223 | 21 | 17 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/1381 | 2025-06-14 | 211 | 24 | 22 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/1428 | 2025-06-21 | 262 | 25 | 23 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/1480 | 2025-06-29 | 258 | 64 | 62 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/1527 | 2025-07-07 | 253 | 45 | 44 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/1561 | 2025-07-14 | 330 | 67 | 63 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/1599 | 2025-07-23 | 244 | 65 | 60 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/1633 | 2025-07-31 | 241 | 27 | 26 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/1688 | 2025-08-08 | 226 | 31 | 31 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/1740 | 2025-08-15 | 213 | 26 | 25 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/1805 | 2025-08-22 | 200 | 20 | 19 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/1858 | 2025-08-29 | 221 | 31 | 31 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/1901 | 2025-09-05 | 237 | 43 | 41 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/1926 | 2025-09-12 | 200 | 41 | 38 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/1984 | 2025-09-18 | 265 | 39 | 36 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/2042 | 2025-09-26 | 950 | 56 | 50 | 4 ← SKIN RAID week (mega-contest) t.me/sihofficial/2090 | 2025-10-05 | 1000 | 43 | 40 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/2124 | 2025-10-10 | 287 | 52 | 49 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/2158 | 2025-10-17 | 317 | 55 | 53 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2190 | 2025-10-26 | 470 | 101 | 93 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/2217 | 2025-11-03 | 1293 | 122 | 115 | 2 ← peak (1,293 participants) t.me/sihofficial/2245 | 2025-11-11 | 301 | 78 | 76 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/2277 | 2025-11-20 | 248 | 51 | 50 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2288 | 2025-11-27 | 449 | 27 | 26 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2301 | 2025-12-05 | 186 | 38 | 37 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2315 | 2025-12-12 | 445 | 23 | 23 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2338 | 2025-12-19 | 338 | 53 | 50 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2361 | 2025-12-26 | 286 | 44 | 42 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/2380 | 2026-01-05 | 193 | 37 | 34 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/2390 | 2026-01-12 | 238 | 61 | 54 | 3 t.me/sihofficial/2412 | 2026-01-21 | 256 | 26 | 23 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/2448 | 2026-01-29 | 483 | 46 | 44 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2482 | 2026-02-09 | 336 | 37 | 35 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2506 | 2026-02-18 | 1299 | 41 | 39 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2508 | 2026-02-18 | 308 | 41 | 39 | 1 (same week, two contests) t.me/sihofficial/2531 | 2026-02-26 | 253 | 51 | 50 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2562 | 2026-03-06 | 257 | 26 | 25 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2586 | 2026-03-16 | 265 | 20 | 18 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2610 | 2026-03-24 | 175 | 45 | 42 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2640 | 2026-04-07 | 257 | 52 | 51 | 0 ← PRIME DROP week t.me/sihofficial/2646 | 2026-04-09 | 269 | 39 | 38 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2672 | 2026-04-17 | 288 | 49 | 47 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2779 | 2026-05-08 | 181 | 21 | 20 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2789 | 2026-05-11 | 251 | 16 | 15 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/2839 | 2026-05-19 | 166 | 22 | 21 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2886 | 2026-05-28 | 205 | 40 | 38 | 2 t.me/sihofficial/2924 | 2026-06-04 | 202 | 23 | 22 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/2978 | 2026-06-16 | 201 | 9 | 8 | 1 ← taper begins t.me/sihofficial/3113 | 2026-07-17 | 239 | 12 | 10 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/3152 | 2026-07-27 | 230 | 25 | 24 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/3196 | 2026-08-06 | 233 | 18 | 17 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/3255 | 2026-08-24 | 125 | 3 | 2 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/3291 | 2026-09-01 | 168 | 9 | 8 | 1 t.me/sihofficial/3330 | 2026-09-11 | 116 | 10 | 10 | 0 t.me/sihofficial/3400 | 2026-10-02 | 125 | 7 | 7 | 0 ``` **Reading the table.** Pre-flip: 15 weeks of contests (9,100+ total participants) → 58 reviews total, mixed ratings. Post-flip: 69 contest weeks → **~3,000 reviews, 85–95% five-star, near-zero negatives** — the review stream became a function of the contest calendar. Note the mid-2025 pattern: *participants fall* (516 → 200) while *reviews per contest stay flat or rise* (45–65) — the funnel stopped being "many casual entrants" and became "fewer entrants, each now performing the review task". --- ## 3. GOOGLE-FORM CONTESTS (explicit review-for-prize, verbatim forms) | Contest | Post | Announced | Window reviews | 5★ | Notes | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | PRIME DROP | `t.me/sihofficial/2625` | 2026-03-31 | **51 in 8 days** (50× 5★); day-of spike **12 reviews on Mar 31** vs 3–5 baseline | 50 | all v2.9.19; form: "leave any comment… **rate SIH** and attach the link to your comment" (forms.gle/26RhQxXQdbKLYX7AA) | | SKIN RAID | `t.me/sihofficial/3378` | 2025-09-25 | 49 in 8 days (45× 5★), versions clustered on v2.7.x | 45 | form targets "SIH.Mobile app" (forms.gle/Bj4cJoNRoTiwWv3E6); same week as mega-contest 2042 (950 participants) | | PURE DROP | `t.me/sihofficial/3418` | 2026-10-08 | 1 by Oct 10 (results 2026-10-15; 74 "Join" at fetch) | 1 | form: "leave any comment about your experience with SIH extension… rate SIH and attach the link" (forms.gle/QvsjSu7osN8zwCKn9) | **Corrected economics** (fixes the narrower window in the main report — the Mar-31 day-of burst remains the cleanest attribution unit): - PRIME DROP: $26.74 pool → day-of burst 12 reviews = **$2.23/review**; full 8-day window 51 reviews = **$0.52/review** (window mixes in the standing weekly-program flow — see §2). - SKIN RAID: $37.42 pool → 45–49 reviews ≈ **$0.76–0.83/review**. - The whole post-flip program: ~3,000 reviews over 69 contest weeks against weekly prize pools of ~$15–40 → **≈ $0.5–0.8 per motivated review** sustained over 15 months. --- ## 4. HOW TO READ THE DYNAMICS (for the complaint) 1. **Phase 1 (2024-10…2025-02):** weekly contests existed, did NOT touch the store — proof the mechanism was separable and deliberate when it later changed. 2. **2025-03-07:** the switch — same contests, same channel, but from that week every contest week produces a 5★ burst. No store-facing feature, update, or user-base event explains a ×13 jump in written reviews (2.6 → 34.5/week) synchronized with the contest calendar. 3. **Mega-contests coincide with review peaks:** 2025-10-26 (470 participants → 101 reviews), 2025-11-03 (1,293 → 122), 2025-09-26 (950 → 56 + the SKIN RAID window). 4. **The taper (2026-06+):** contest participation decays (200 → 125) and reviews decay in lockstep (34.5 → 8.4/week) — the review flow is downstream of contest activity, not of organic user sentiment.