Pseudo busy board

[CTXMedia]

Pseudo busy board would be an add-on that would simulate members and guests being "active" on your board when they weren't.

People like to visit active and busy boards, so I envisage this add-on displaying a random number of members (perhaps a percentage of your total membership) and a similar random number of guests (perhaps member-percentage-total * 3 or somesuch other formula) so that on the homepage people see that other people are active on the board.

I don't think it needs any complex algorithms for dealing with times of the day etc. just enabling your forum to look busier than it actually is.

Maybe a setting for the percentage to "simulate" so that as your board gets naturally busier you can turn the pseudo activity down.

Would this be a difficult add-on to make?

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[jonsidneyb]

I would feel guilty about something like that. I would feel I was doing something wrong.

 

[Paul B]

Wouldn't members be concerned if they saw themselves logged in when not?

I know I would be.

 

[CTXMedia]

What about making "members" optional? ...

As I said it wouldn't be something for long-term use - just to get things going - natural traffic/usage would take over as things picked up.

I've no moral concerns either - it's just salesmanship, window dressing, glossy covering - call it what you like, but we get "sold" the "greatness" of things all the time that don't actually live up to the reality - hell, companies spend millions on convincing you you need the next best thing - this is just a kick-start "image" creator to give the impression your board is a little busier than it might currently be. Create a small "buzz" about it to pique people's interest. Not really harmful.

Anyway, I've put the idea "out there" so if someone thinks it'll be an easy or fun thing to code, I'd be very happy.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[dutchbb]

Wouldn't members be concerned if they saw themselves logged in when not?

I know I would be.

Yeah you'd have to make it pick fake members you created yourself, but it's dishonest to say the least. Also I think most guests/potential members have more interest in the number of posts/threads, as this is an indication of available content. A multiplier for online guests could be considered... If you think it will make your board more popular. But I doubt it.

 

[Ray]

Very useful for new forums.

 

[a legacy reborn]

Wouldn't members be concerned if they saw themselves logged in when not?

I know I would be.

lol. Someone hacked all the accounts .