Fake members?

Having fake members just to show you have a lot of members does that help? Anybody have any notice of this?

Nope it dont help because you have a load of members that have no or little posts, one for a test acount is understandable at times.

I don't think so, the radio posts/members is important but it is very annoying when most of members never post.

Now making fake activity, may be a tool but if there are not active real members to actually pick up with them they won't do much for you.

Personally I don't like Fake accounts, I rather to do interchanges.

I think it's a good idea to attract true members only.

You want to provide both visiters and bots with quality writings. This will improve your placement, along with attracting more "real" members... these things take some time.

These are just my thoughts.

Take care, and happy promoting.

It does help in some cases

like forum Statistics, what some users look at before joining

Black Mist wrote:It does help in some cases

like forum Statistics, what some users look at before joining

Good point Black Mist.

Also you must consider the type of forum you are dealing with. Some boards it can help you out for sure, like a promotion forum...etc

Personally I find with a strong niche community, it can tend to offend your real members. I would not trade one real member for 25 fake ones. That's just me though.

Regards,

birdguy wrote:

Black Mist wrote:It does help in some cases

like forum Statistics, what some users look at before joining

Good point Black Mist.

Also you must consider the type of forum you are dealing with. Some boards it can help you out for sure, like a promotion forum...etc

Personally I find with a strong niche community, it can tend to offend your real members. I would not trade one real member for 25 fake ones. That's just me though.

Regards,

I agree, Your forum becomes real when you start to get members who post foreal...instead of fake package post you need in the beginning

While "fake" members may raise your post count, and may POSSIBLY gain you a few new "real" members in the short run, eventually, people will notice that your forum is not truly active and will most likely leave.

I think its unprofessional when an Administrator allows fake members on the forum.

I think a well-managed portfolio of fake members does more for the appearance of a new forum than just seeing the admin & mod names on just about every 'last post by'. I can also use them to steer debates the right way without looking like a dictator. Even my 'real world' members have no idea about the fakes. I'd challenge anyone without access to the MCP or ACP to spot them!

As soon as there are enough real members to make fakes uneccesary, I'll let them fade away. It IS hard work to keep up with several different & distinctive identities but it's not impossible if you do it well. The secret is to "Have fun with your dark side".

I have mixed views on this:

At first when I made Fudge Promotion, I had to promote the forum, then make lots of topics myself. THEN I reqeusted packages to fill up some of the forum- after all, a empty forum isn't going to attract anyone.
About 35-50% of a forum's members do stay active/make posts regularly, but most don't, as they come from 'money for registers' or exchanges, or packages.
When a few packagers post, some stay on - e.g Kaynil
Real members are eventually joining your website, as long as you are active, the place looks good, welcoming staff, and the services and the prices. It's not just about posts, I join some new forums sometimes to get better forum services (e.g reviews).

I noticed on my forum, members statics grow, so does post, even tho they might be fake, It's all in the stats

It depends - if your members are obviously fake I think it's a bad idea. If they look real then it's fine.

Clarkie wrote:It depends - if your members are obviously fake I think it's a bad idea. If they look real then it's fine.

I agree with that But I recommend you to just try to get real members instead of the fake ones.

birdguy wrote:I think it's a good idea to attract true members only.

You want to provide both visiters and bots with quality writings. This will improve your placement, along with attracting more "real" members... these things take some time.

These are just my thoughts.

Take care, and happy promoting.

I agree with you 100% here, it's a good idea because other members will post more if they see activity. However if they only see one username posting all the time they will just think that the boards are innactive and most likely leave.

You could just post with the fake accounts, it is fairly easy and you just make like 10 posts from each account for awhile until they fade away.

A forum need to be interactive for it to be popular