Fake Members- To do or not to do?

[Clarendon]

Do you believe that adding fake members to your newly created forum is a good idea? This is something I've seen done countless times and I don't feel it helps very much at all as it's often quite transparent the users are fake.

So what are your thoughts on this? Have you ever created fake members for your site?

 

[JewishPoptart89]

I don't think it is a good idea, as it doesn't contribute content.

 

[s3_gunzel]

Do you believe that adding fake members to your newly created forum is a good idea?

We have 1. It's an AI that I've built to run random moderation tasks based on criteria I set a while ago and haven't revisited since. It does (or did) automated welcoming of users and deleted spam.

 

[Clarendon]

We have 1. It's an AI that I've built to run random moderation tasks based on criteria I set a while ago and haven't revisited since. It does (or did) automated welcoming of users and deleted spam.

That sounds great- I wouldn't really class bots as fake members as they do indeed have a purpose

 

[s3_gunzel]

I wouldn't really class bots as fake members as they do indeed have a purpose

It's not technically a bot. By design, it is meant to interact as a person.

 

[Clarendon]

It's not technically a bot. By design, it is meant to interact as a person.

Oh I see, that's awesome! I have never encountered an AI that has acted like an actual person before- I've seen some attempts but they weren't very good ones

 

[s3_gunzel]

I've seen some attempts but they weren't very good ones

Ours isn't spectacular... yet. Work in progress...

 

[Clarendon]

Ours isn't spectacular... yet. Work in progress... :smiley:

I'll make sure I come along and see it in action when it's complete

 

[xXInfectedXx]

It's not a good idea as it doesn't add any new content to to the forum. Current members of the forum will see the fake members as fake. My advice would be not to do this, and to promote your forum in a legit way by social media.

 

[Sean Quinn]

In my opinion it is ok to do sometimes as replies on real member's threads is what gets them coming back, so to give the forum the feel that it is active until it actually becomes active, some fake accounts can help start things off.

 

[Ridew]

Actually, it's not a good idea. However, do whatever that you can think of in terms of growing a new forum. For example, use those fake accounts by posting interesting content to bring new people into your community.

 

[Bizarrio]

I think that it is better to focus on getting real users (rather than fake ones). However, not all forum owners are skilled enough to get new posters. In that case, it is probably not a bad idea to do some postings using fake accounts.

Again, it is much better to focus on getting real users, because that's the only way to build a community.