General Creating fake members to jumpstart community: yay or nay?

[Nomad]

Well, I have done this on every forum I have created. However, I have made fake members active until there were real people posting on the forum. When I open a forum, I do not want to to be bare bone. I can create a lot of topics but I cannot reply to my own topics, I need people to respond and creating fake accounts and letting them create posts and replies can show some activities. Even to buy posting packages on promotional forums, you need some members and activities. Therefore, I believe creating fake accounts while starting a community is not a bad idea.

 

[Arantor]

The thing about fake members is that most people can tell when someone is posting to themselves - because most people aren’t actually convincing enough to pretend to be other people, not even (perhaps especially) if they try to hold opposing or deliberately combative opinions.

 

[fdk]

I have known some that do it - if it is adding content and is building a base for real members to engage, then I don't think it's an absolute no.

I haven't done it myself personally, but others have pointed out that it's not a million miles away from post exchanges or buying forum posts/packages for your site. If you have the time, in fact, it probably works out an awful lot cheaper even if you considered paying yourself the money you would've spent on content... idk.

I definitely wouldn't see a purpose in continuing the practice beyond the first week or two of your forum opening - the only time I can see this being useful is literally right at the inception of a new forum. Otherwise, it seems a bit silly to me.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

The thing about fake members is that most people can tell when someone is posting to themselves - because most people aren’t actually convincing enough to pretend to be other people, not even (perhaps especially) if they try to hold opposing or deliberately combative opinions.

If you're too lazy to work on getting real members, then you're probably going to be too lazy to make your fake members look convincing.

If they are convincing, you might need a government check and a hospital visit.