I think that by paying someone to make posts it might actually help the forum. Why? Simply because it will give it some content worth discussing about and you never know, the people you payed might just continue posting because they like the forum.
It's a cheap (no pun intended) way out. You're not working on getting a larger user base, you're just getting people to do with work you should be doing yourself. You should be dedicated to your site. If you don't want to put in the time to create the content yourself then you're obviously not dedicated enough. The people that are posting only do it because of the money. They don't care about what they are posting, and the content you get from them reflect that. Not to mention that once their incentive, their money, is gone so is there reason to be there.
People disregard signature links these days, because they are nothing more then just links... I wouldn't click anything that has a www. and a .com on it. Also, if I am not mistaken most forums make signature links <no follows> heck, I have never seen a signature popping up in Google search, have you?
It's not about backlinks. Surprisingly enough, sometimes human people read signatures themselves. If you are a respected member of a forum then members would want to visit the links in your site. Whether it's because they want to support it, because they are curious, if they know the quality of the site is going to be just as good as the quality of the posts you have on the forum, or whatever. In the end it still ends in traffic, and in the end it's better advertising than posting on a directory. The link in your signature is suppose to tie in to being a member on the forum and having good quality posts around that have your signature underneath. Which is why the quote says to not be a spammer, and make great posts.
More profiles? Mmm, depends, if you are the type of person who can talk to your self without getting bored, then go ahead. Getting friends to post with you is a great idea but most of the time they ask for staff position and that's bad. People don't really like two staff members posting back and forth.
No. Having multiple profiles is just a sad thing to see. It's just a desperate attempt to try to make it seem like your forum is better than it really is. Rather than working on advertising and creating good content you are just posting on your own forum for yourself....kind of counter productive.
Getting your friends to join is a hell of a better start than just posting it yourself. And in the beginning it's pretty much the only userbase you have. Thats not to say you're not wrong about friends demanding staff positions, i've had many a bad experience with that, but it's kind of obvious that 3 friends > 1 person posting all over the place with different accounts. There is strength in numbers, especially with online forums.
I don;t know about you but I'd rather pay people $1.00 for ten posts rather then give things away. At least with the ten posts I am getting some quality content and that might attract some people.
The quality of the paid posts is never guaranteed. And it's not a very good image that part of your userbase don't even want to be there because they like the community. Give-aways show that you are dedicated to your users and are willing to go the extra step for them. Something that is
very commendable in a site ower, which is why Frank's give-aways are supported so much by the community. I could go on about the importance between a owner and the userbase, but I think you get the point.
Did you challenge this post just to challenge it, or did you actually think you had substantial arguments? Because really, a lot of these tips have been repeated a lot in this board.
