It is nearly criminal to sell an addon like this -> https://xenforo.com/community/resources/fake-activity.7046/ !!
Xenforo should take it out!
Xenforo should take it out!
Fake User Addon should be deleted!
- Thread starter darkeye
- Start date
This says everything...
Kevin
Well-known member
What exactly is it saying to you?
imno007
Well-known member
I don't use it myself, but one can argue that it's maybe a bit more understandable in the case of Xenforo than with some other forum softwares, due in part to their still imposing a 60 minute limit to show active users online - at least until a forum can get enough regular traffic to show at least a few dozen people online every hour. There's ways of getting around it, of course, but nothing ideal, especially for new forum owners.
Dnyan
Well-known member
If somebody is visiting forum, then i believe they visit to see a content which you have and not how many are online now.
Seeing the how many online too wont make any sense to user when they find site is not having content they were looking for.
I do not show member online on my forum, because no one is interesting in knowing how much are there.
But some peoples who gives more importance to such details mostly forum owner only, wish to satisfy their ego, so they use such addon to make their eyes pleased with those played numbers.
addon dev develops paid addon for the functionality which is in demand or they think, someone there will buy it for sure. its not about the mind of dev but you should raise question to those who use such addon.
if there are no one to buy such addon, soon it becomes unsupported and vanished, if not then, its in demand
Seeing the how many online too wont make any sense to user when they find site is not having content they were looking for.
I do not show member online on my forum, because no one is interesting in knowing how much are there.
But some peoples who gives more importance to such details mostly forum owner only, wish to satisfy their ego, so they use such addon to make their eyes pleased with those played numbers.
addon dev develops paid addon for the functionality which is in demand or they think, someone there will buy it for sure. its not about the mind of dev but you should raise question to those who use such addon.
if there are no one to buy such addon, soon it becomes unsupported and vanished, if not then, its in demand
imno007
Well-known member
Sure, and when looking at reviews, no one skips a book or movie, or whatever it is, just because it maybe has only a two or three star average: they all actually read all or most of the reviews to see why the product only has a two or three star average. A bit of sarcasm there, sorry. My point being that you can't discount people being people and simply following whatever looks popular at the moment, and in this case that means a lot of people will look at a site, see there's only a few people active at the time, and assume there must be a reason hardly anyone is there - and leave. So while I'm not disagreeing with you that actual quality content is more important than surface appearances, I'm also not discounting people's tendency to be shallow. 
frm
Well-known member
Absolutely nothing wrong with this. I remember the good ole Tripod days where most wouldn't start their counter at 000000, but something like 0001275 instead.
This is because it creates a lie to the end-user, that they want to believe, that the forum is active and popular. They will find out on their own whether that's the case (if an admin fakes it, they best be posting content to go along with it to keep new joins).
The only illegal thing, unenforceable by XF that this admin can do is making false representations to potential advertisers. If they say they have 1000 active users while it's just 10, and sell on those statistics, they are doing a bait and switch deal which is fraud and illegal (unless bait can be delivered in a timely manner).
Nothing to see here...
Are you just mad it's $30?
This is because it creates a lie to the end-user, that they want to believe, that the forum is active and popular. They will find out on their own whether that's the case (if an admin fakes it, they best be posting content to go along with it to keep new joins).
The only illegal thing, unenforceable by XF that this admin can do is making false representations to potential advertisers. If they say they have 1000 active users while it's just 10, and sell on those statistics, they are doing a bait and switch deal which is fraud and illegal (unless bait can be delivered in a timely manner).
Nothing to see here...
Are you just mad it's $30?
imno007
Well-known member
Obviously, it would ideally be used in conjunction with having a good amount of real, substantial content. So... hook random visitors with the bait of inflated numbers/activity, reel them in and land them with actual content.
Whatever reasons people are using it for, in the end, despite some people decrying it as "unethical," it doesn't really hurt visitors coming to the site. As even the critics of it have pointed out, most people aren't going to stick around if the content isn't there to keep them interested, so at worst you've wasted a few minutes of their time.
cdub
Well-known member
Yes it is. It's just funny.I think that's am entirely different issue.
Kevin
Well-known member
You may be thinking of a different add-on, from the description this one in question just pads your 'users online' count.
Here's the other one you may be thinking of. Good for setting up a test install where you need some dummy content out there for testing.
Unmaintained - Seeder
Seeder for XenForo 2.1.0+ Description This add-on helps in filling development board with dummy data. Requirements PHP 7.2.0+ PHP Fileinfo module CLI Commands CommandDescription tck-seeder:seed-userSeeds users...
xenforo.com
ratix_gunz
Active member
Having this addon, I absolutely do not use it to cheat.
It is useful for me to make fake BOTS appear to make the whole thing a little more realistic with other third party addons.
For example, I use it to have a BOT online (as a staff member) for 24 hours for a realistic touch when I delete a message on Siropu's chat.
I agree that using this addon in a way that cheats the statistics is not really good.
It is useful for me to make fake BOTS appear to make the whole thing a little more realistic with other third party addons.
For example, I use it to have a BOT online (as a staff member) for 24 hours for a realistic touch when I delete a message on Siropu's chat.
I agree that using this addon in a way that cheats the statistics is not really good.
frm
Well-known member
Sometimes nobody is on XF when I report spam and it disappears in a minute or two. Privacy settings? Who knows.
But this doesn't give a realistic approach as you say cause you can't see Mark Zucc take down a post either.
ratix_gunz
Active member
Did you read my post? Or you got the wrong person.
I didn't speak of any real person.
I was saying that leaving a user named BOT for 24 hours every day, can be used to make a realistic side for example when you delete a message from a person, notify a person, when you send an alert or even when you want to send a private message to a new member.
Having said that, I don't see how the privacy policy is embarrassing given that this is a user that you yourself created.
It would be best if you test this addon before you want to say anything.
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