What is your opinion on the paid posting services that exist? Would you use them?
I think they are a good idea, because when guests come they will see that your forum has a high post count and will be more likely to register.
I think Paid Posting can be really good but you have to purchase it from a very trustworthy site because if you pay them $50 to do 100 posts and all them posts are useless then you have wasted your money. I believe ForumBooster is a really good one.
I do forum postings to make some extra cash, which in turns helps pay for hosting and domain fees for my forum.
They can be good and bad, good for starting out new forums, but bad if people know you are purchasing posts since those people most likely do their job and are never seen again.
Why would you want to talk to a forum poster, when they just completed their job and packed up and left your forum? Not much of a discussion there to say the least.
I would rather spend my hard earned money on things that I can use in real life. I would rather have members who are there because they want to be there, and not because they are getting paid.