Niyi Briggs
Reputable
I don't see the need to use multiple accounts. Activities on forums is grown over time and not faked.
Should Forum Administrators Use Multiple Accounts to Boost Activity?
- Thread starter Ghost
- Start date
Black Angel
Resident
An admin should do whatever it takes to make their forum succeed as long as it doesnt cause harm to someone else.. If that means using fake accounts then so be it. Fake it until you make it.. as they say..
What is not ok, is using fake accounts based off of other active members on someone else's forum, to make it look as if these people are on your forum.
I once had a post exchange with a member that did exactly this. Except, this idiot created accounts copying my husband's and my brother's profiles off of my forum.
I busted him, and asked him to remove those profiles and I even offered to help him boost his activity, but he refused and banned my account, and I ended up getting his forum shut down with the host he was on. Apparently stealing people's private info is a big TOS violation.
His account on my forum had already been banned by then, but the idiot had the audacity to ask me for another exchange for a new forum and complained that his account was banned. I reminded him of the account theft in my exchange topic (with screenshots) and basically told him to kick rocks..
What is not ok, is using fake accounts based off of other active members on someone else's forum, to make it look as if these people are on your forum.
I once had a post exchange with a member that did exactly this. Except, this idiot created accounts copying my husband's and my brother's profiles off of my forum.
I busted him, and asked him to remove those profiles and I even offered to help him boost his activity, but he refused and banned my account, and I ended up getting his forum shut down with the host he was on. Apparently stealing people's private info is a big TOS violation.
His account on my forum had already been banned by then, but the idiot had the audacity to ask me for another exchange for a new forum and complained that his account was banned. I reminded him of the account theft in my exchange topic (with screenshots) and basically told him to kick rocks..
Reddit actually used this method to grow their community in its early days and yet, they’re still doing well today.
How Reddit Got Huge: Tons of Fake Accounts
According to Reddit cofounder Steve Huffman, in the early days the Reddit crew just faked it ‘til they made it.
www.vice.com
But early on, Huffman said that using fake accounts driven by the founders was key to building the tone they wanted to the site. Basically, by populating the site with accounts whose strings they pulled, the Reddit crew could shape the discourse and sharing of the site in the direction they wanted, and as the real user base grew, those standards held, allowing the fake accounts to fade away.
New content on a regular basis is essential to any forum but the forum also needs to serve a purpose other than talking to yourself.
If the content provided, regardless of its origin, is not attracting participation then I'd argue the forum has no purpose.
If the content provided, regardless of its origin, is not attracting participation then I'd argue the forum has no purpose.
Reddit actually used this method to grow their community in its early days and yet, they’re still doing well today.
How Reddit Got Huge: Tons of Fake Accounts
According to Reddit cofounder Steve Huffman, in the early days the Reddit crew just faked it ‘til they made it.
But early on, Huffman said that using fake accounts driven by the founders was key to building the tone they wanted to the site. Basically, by populating the site with accounts whose strings they pulled, the Reddit crew could shape the discourse and sharing of the site in the direction they wanted, and as the real user base grew, those standards held, allowing the fake accounts to fade away.
I never knew about this! Crazy to think Reddit at one time was made up of a bunch of fake accounts by the owners. I know there's a few people who have multiple accounts now, I'm guilty of having a couple.
I will do a second account for testing settings and so on. I try to do most of my posting with my fords8 account.
Oh, testing is definitely excluded from the OP....and things like Awards accounts or birthday honoring accounts, which I've seen on some sites. I mean multiple people using accounts that are used in the forum for discussions.
Tiger21820
New Arrival
I have around 10 accounts on Nintendo 3DS Central for many different purposes! If you own the forum, then by all means, knock yourself out!
It's often quite obvious to most members when there are fake accounts. It creates a very weird atmosphere on the forum and you soon get the feeling it's very artificial. I wouldn't advise it to anyone. It's hard to keep up the lie and in return you're only kidding yourself.
I also want to impose this question:
Let's say you join my forum. I (Shawn) befriend you, reply to your posts, chat on DMs, and we become great friends.
User John also does the same thing with you and you two become great friends.
Somehow, some way, you figure out that me and John are the same person.
How would that make you feel? Would you feel betrayed? Would you continue to want to be my friend? Would I seem like an honest person to you or something just wanting your attention on the forum?
That's what I think about when I think about using multiple accounts for activity.
Let's say you join my forum. I (Shawn) befriend you, reply to your posts, chat on DMs, and we become great friends.
User John also does the same thing with you and you two become great friends.
Somehow, some way, you figure out that me and John are the same person.
How would that make you feel? Would you feel betrayed? Would you continue to want to be my friend? Would I seem like an honest person to you or something just wanting your attention on the forum?
That's what I think about when I think about using multiple accounts for activity.
My first thoughts would be, "You sneak!" and How many other accounts do you have? Are any of them real?
But then I'd switch to, Well, you obviously did a good job in building two complete characters that I couldn't detect.
As for would I want to continue to be your friend. It really depends on how close we had gotten. Were we online besties where I didn't just chat casually every day, but shared some things I don't share with others? If it was casual great friends where I said Hey how are you, every day,, I probably wouldn't even care, but I still would suspect you in the future, because if it was that easy for you, then you'd do it again. Now if we were really close and I shared a lot of personal information, I would feel that sting of betrayal because to you, it's just a game.
Exactly. You do feel betrayed when something is fake. And let's say the admin does this with only one account, you automatically question EVERYTHING on the forum, thinking it's completely fake.
Don't do it kids. Stay off the fake personages.
What's even worse is people using actual members their account to fake activity. Without realizing it's quite obvious it isn't them. Not naming anyone but we know.
If someone used one of my old accounts to post without my consent, I'd really go after them for Identity Theft as best as I could. You can't pretend to be me.
Don't know if you'd really stand a case in an online forum. But you're absolutely right. It's not done.
Maybe contacting their host to put an end to it would be a good start.
It's unnecessary to allow oneself to be victimized by fraud.
BeautifulAngel
Resident
I personally don’t think staff should be creating fake accounts or trying to deceive members and guests. It might seem like a quick way to boost activity, but in the long run, it can hurt the forum’s credibility. If people find out—and they usually do—it can break trust and make the community feel less genuine.
I get that starting a new forum is tough, and engagement can be slow at first, but I think there are better ways to encourage activity. Posting interesting topics, promoting discussions, and being genuinely active as staff can go a long way. Plus, if real members join and see “fake” engagement, they might not stick around once they realize it’s not organic.
I get that starting a new forum is tough, and engagement can be slow at first, but I think there are better ways to encourage activity. Posting interesting topics, promoting discussions, and being genuinely active as staff can go a long way. Plus, if real members join and see “fake” engagement, they might not stick around once they realize it’s not organic.
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