We are all aware how hard it can be to start a community and have people talking. Pseudonyms are a great way to crate content for potential members to contribute in. Have you ever used a Pseudonym or fake account and has it been successful? How do you think they should be used and what do you consider abuse?
I have used a pseudonym before and I have to say it worked out great. I had trouble controlling myself though. I kept creating them to make my statistics look good. It's always great to see your community stats at an all time high but I think it's much more rewarding knowing 'real' members have joined and are creating content on your community without you pushing them.
-YourMaster
Most of the time I use fake accounts to test privileges out, to see if I have things correct. Maybe every now and then i might have a couple to try to increase post and topic count to help encourage people to join.
I have a backup, test and normal member account.
Test is... for testing.
Backup is... if I lose my admin account AGAIN so I will have another account that has admin status
Member account... hardly use but sometimes I open the odd admin thread or general thread for others to reply too.
Just like many I have a fake account which I modify constantly to test new sections, user groups, permissions, etc.
I also have a shared account, restricted to two areas for anonymous posts from members only.
I'll be honest though, I've been tempted sometimes to create a fake account to stimulate my own members to post more, but I feel like I'd only fool myself so I always post in my usual account.
I have a test account, but it is for testing, nothing more. Creating sockpuppet accounts to boost your stats is rather lame in my opinion. It's also highly hypocritical if your forum has a rule against alternative accounts.
I would say it's cheating if this business had rules. :lol: But in all seriousness, do it the honest way and promote your forum like everyone else before you did. At least those members will not take holidays at the same time you do. 😛
Edit: Where on earth did you get the idea that a sockpuppet account is a ''pseudonym''? A pseudonym is a ''false name'' (also called a ''pen name'' as it was often a device used by authors). For example my real name is Fiachra but my name on this forum is ''DarkRaven''. DarkRaven is my pseudonym, see?
This is quite different to a sockpuppet account. Perhaps you were thinking of ''alter ego''?
I've tried having a fake account without permissions, and it was hard, because I didn't want to sound like it was all me doing it, and at the same time, I don't know... I just didn't like that because it was just to hard to make it sound like it wasn't me talking to myself or whatever. I didn't want to incriminate myself, in other words.
Being a roleplay site, we have alts, which is perfectly acceptable, but they are all linked to our main accounts so everyone knows who everyone is. It it still helpful to put a little activity and color in the site though.
For my RP forum, users are allowed 2 accounts only for the RP. Staff can have more accounts in the case of a member leaving and giving away his/her accounts. Then, I have my 1 testing account.
