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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    47

    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?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    New York's Capital District
    Posts
    2,198
    I don't see the reasoning behind doing such a thing ... especially with so few members ...
    Know It All Solutions Incorporated
    Web Design, Web Development and Web Hosting

  3. #3
    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..

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Atlanta, Jawja
    Posts
    3,074
    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
    * Full Stack (Web/WP) Dev for The Catholic Diocese of Richmond (160+ sites)
    * Sports Photographer, Media Personality and CFB Historian
    * Tech Admin for several Sports Networks/Sites

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    47
    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

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    7,954
    I have seen a few forums like this before. Especially new forums and some host forums.

  7. #7
    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.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,545
    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.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Derry, Ireland
    Posts
    1,562
    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

  10. #10
    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...

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Posts
    2,754
    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....

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Charlotte, NC
    Posts
    528
    WHT only has 3 "real" members...You didn't know that?

    Jason
    http://www.charlottezweb.com
    HOSTING your livelihood

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Let's see.....
    Posts
    4,463
    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.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Let's see.....
    Posts
    4,463
    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?

    Jason
    73's, Kim
    Everything happens for a reason I make up.

  15. #15
    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.

  16. #16
    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.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    4,721
    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. IMO
    Hyperconfused (™)

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    287
    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

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    St. Louis, MO
    Posts
    1,653
    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)
    Happily hosting @ Dathorn.com (Since 3/2003), Ispeeds.net (Since 2004), & Quadspeedi.net (Since 7/2005)!
    Hosted @ FDC for 9 Years

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    3,155
    My forums:
    Our users have posted a total of 754 articles
    We have 214 registered users
    Personally, I have 4 users that are "me" but I generally keep the other 3 in their respective forums. My site is RPG related, and I took the liberty of adding some NPCs (non player character) into my site membership. My other account is my main admin account. I do this to define who posts what since I have an "in-character" forum. It would look odd if I posted specific NPCs comments, reactions under my name. I do this to give the other users in the RPG forum a better feel of who is who. However, most of the posts on my forum are in my PHP-Nuke category and for the most part, they seldomly post in there. But then again I've been concentrating on RPG PHPNuke addons more than my actual game.

    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 $0.02
    Don't like what I say? Ignore me.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    1,718

    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 have 'fake' members and posts; but I wouldn't call them fake. I don't have stupid posts to make the forum look busy but I tend to reply using differnet aliases so my members (who are shy about posting) can feel more comfortable.

    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

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    846
    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.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Toronto, ON
    Posts
    124
    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?

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Kathmandu, Nepal
    Posts
    3,982
    Nope, I often purge dead usernames, I ended up with one forum having around 150 members (down from around 250-300) and 12000 posts.
    Kevin Ohashi - Founder of ReviewSignal.com - Honest Web Hosting Reviews
    Check out my 2021 WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmarks, the most comprehensive look at WP hosting performance

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    2,071
    I'm telling you, I'm a bot programmed by WHT. I'm here to take up space! Honest!

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