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Thread: Forum Owners Fake Member?
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11-17-2003, 02:48 PM #1Junior Guru Wannabe
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Forum Owners Fake Member?
Was wondering I have seen many forum sites these days that have the stats towards the bottom that have like 150 member and something like 110 posts.
I have to believe that the owner of the forum makes up most of those names to make everyone believe the forum is busier than it really is?
Do you think many new forums do this?
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11-17-2003, 02:52 PM #2Web Hosting Master
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I don't see the reasoning behind doing such a thing ... especially with so few members ...
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11-17-2003, 02:54 PM #3Newbie
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Dont see any good doing that, fake post is better then to keep it active, fake members dont do much..
I would not do it..
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11-17-2003, 02:58 PM #4Need Moar KAWFEE
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I wouldn't ever overinflate ANY of my forums. Heck, I've got one forum that's got 500 members and over 200,000 posts, in less than a year. No need to pad info there.
I could understand doing it if you want to stimulate activity, though I would never personally do that.Doug Hazard - "retired" Web Hosting Master
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11-17-2003, 03:01 PM #5Junior Guru Wannabe
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Well, i'm not faulting them really, just wondering why they do it? Most people don't realize that when they are talkin on one of those forums they are having 1 conversation with 1 person who might be acting like 100.....
Don't know...just saw more than one site doing this and was interested to see what everyone had to say
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11-17-2003, 03:04 PM #6Retired Moderator
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I have seen a few forums like this before. Especially new forums and some host forums.
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11-17-2003, 03:10 PM #7Web Hosting Guru
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I used to have a forum for a programming site I created. It would get 1-2 signups a day on average but 1 in 10 would actually make a post. When I finally killed it off there were 100+ members and 200 some posts. 90% of which came from just my few friends and I.
I really never understood it. I had a suspiction it was spammers looking for email address personally. They sign up to forums in hope you do a mass mailing to members and add the addresses into the to line. so they get tons of good addresses to add to their lists.
But honestly lots of people sign up for forums but never post. I'm a moderator at a very large forum. It's not unusual to get 25-30 new members a day yet most will never post a single message and most will only log in a half dozen times before vanishing off the face off the earth.
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11-17-2003, 03:12 PM #8Web Hosting Master
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It would all depend on the purpose really. If a forum admin wants to fake sign-ups and posts to promote growth of his/her forum, I don't really have a problem with that.
However, someone faking posts/members for the purpose of selling the forum or selling advertising is wrong.
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11-17-2003, 03:13 PM #9Web Hosting Master
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There are a lot of forums where members signup but dont post, I dont see any reason for an owner to register a load of names, I think it would make it look dead with more members than posts.
Most of my forums are the opposite of that.
I think the most members I have on a forum is around 500 with somewhere around 3000 posts but I also have a pretty new one with around 65 members and 2500 posts.
Just depends on what the members are like really..John Diver
CanaryHotspot.com - Canary Island forum and information
InternationalChatForum.com - International Travel Chat Forum and information
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11-17-2003, 03:34 PM #10Build It Better!
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It's also possible that much of the forum cannot be seen unless you are a registered member. People may register just to access a particular area and never end up posting anything. I know that seems to be a popular thing to do, especially when restricting access to download areas and such...
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11-17-2003, 04:01 PM #11Web Hosting Master
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I have a newish forum about 3 months old, It's jolly hard work getting forums going .... I find myself having to start lot's of threads ... But even though i start them people respond and keep checking them ...
I've noticed a lot of people register and make one post then you never see them again, either because they forget your addie or get the answer and don't bother posting a thanks....
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11-17-2003, 04:12 PM #12Web Hosting Evangelist
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WHT only has 3 "real" members...You didn't know that?
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11-17-2003, 04:25 PM #13Retired ***ulator
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On my mboard I have a few people that signed up and not posted anything or only posted one item.
As for fake members, I have one set-up with non-admin powers on my board for testing purposes. I did that one after a private sub-board that was meant for 4 people was visable to members that were logged on. I also know of a few other forum owners who do the test member thingy.73's, Kim
Everything happens for a reason I make up.
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11-17-2003, 04:27 PM #14Retired ***ulator
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Actually 4! We several computers in one room to keep track of all our "member" names!
Originally posted by Charlottezweb
WHT only has 3 "real" members...You didn't know that?
Jason73's, Kim
Everything happens for a reason I make up.
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11-17-2003, 04:29 PM #15Web Hosting Master
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I'm not a forum owner, but I guarantee you that my member is 100% real.
I thank my Lord for all His wonderful blessings.
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11-17-2003, 04:39 PM #16Web Hosting Master
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I did that with one forum I started. I responded to posts with like 5 different ID's just to pad the numbers. Seems silly now. It's a small forum now has around 200 members plus no ad's or anything so what was the point for my padding? Makes no sense. I wouldn't do it again. I didn't invent 100's though that seems like a lot of effort for nothing.
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11-17-2003, 04:48 PM #17Retired Moderator
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I've seen a few that seem to fit this description in the offers section when people are trying to sell them, but for somebody to "create" members in the hope that it'll draw more, i don't see the logic.
If i visit forum A that has 1,000 members and 1 guest online, then i visit forum B that has 100 members and say 5/6 members and a few guests online i'm far more likely to be interested in forum B as it's active.
The number of members doesn't make a community, 10 members can make a good community, it's the content that makes the difference. IMOHyperconfused (™)
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11-17-2003, 05:01 PM #18Web Hosting Guru
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I agree with XeroMedia. Though, I believe that most so far, including myself until I read his post, hadn't considered the amount of people online, but were just going off of the members numbers.
P.T. Barnum used the same idea to get people to go into his "freak" shows. He'd have someone outside yelling about what the people would see, then he'd have another person run up to buy a ticket all excited, etc. The idea was to create a wave effect, the crowd would see one do it, and naturally follow. This philosophy is very well proven...after all, aren't we all like limmings? lol
Richard
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11-17-2003, 07:47 PM #19Web Hosting Master
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Its quite easy for people to sign up to forums, and just not post anything. Espcially if its those darn forums that make you sign up, before you can view them (hate those)
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11-17-2003, 08:10 PM #20is a threadkiller
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My forums:
Our users have posted a total of 754 articles
We have 214 registered users
They are also registered in there to keep others from trying to post as legitimate players. Also when I post as a NPC, I logout of my admin account and login as the NPC this way I dont pad the "users online".
One day, I'll edit the files to exclude NPCs from my members count. I could use the "user title" table to do it, because all NPCs are titled as such.
In my opinion, I think it is ok for a DM/GM to do this to their forums, to expand the actual context of RPGs. However, I think it is pretty inappropriate to do this for other types of sites.
Just my $0.02Don't like what I say? Ignore me.
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11-17-2003, 08:28 PM #21Web Hosting Master
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Re: Forum Owners Fake Member?
Originally posted by gowireless
Was wondering I have seen many forum sites these days that have the stats towards the bottom that have like 150 member and something like 110 posts.
I have to believe that the owner of the forum makes up most of those names to make everyone believe the forum is busier than it really is?
Do you think many new forums do this?
i.e. If I get common questions about something I'll post it as if a member did so other can see the answer too
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11-17-2003, 09:40 PM #22Web Hosting Master
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There was a thread like this over at sitepoint, and I was surprised by the number of forum owners who said they did this. Some of them kept some user names long after their forum picked up many "real" members. One person said he used his "alter ego" to insult members who got out of line.
It's a weird practice to me.
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11-17-2003, 10:05 PM #23Disabled
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Our users have posted a total of 3915 articles
We have 248 registered users
http://www.wedonotliveinigloos.com/canadopinion
I would have to say that 200 of those members never posted -once-.. it's really sad to see good members go, because they forget about the forums.
Hrm, I'd like to try to bring some of those members back - you think a re-invitation e-mail can work?
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11-18-2003, 07:29 AM #24Retired Moderator
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Nope, I often purge dead usernames, I ended up with one forum having around 150 members (down from around 250-300) and 12000 posts.
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11-18-2003, 08:56 AM #25MAOMPSMITCUT (rmbr this? lol)
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I'm telling you, I'm a bot programmed by WHT. I'm here to take up space! Honest!