By creating sockpuppet accounts, you can fake more activity in discussions. This encourages real users to participate. Repeat until there are enough real users to sustain a community without sockpuppets.
Reddit did this, as they said in this interview. Others confirm the approach.
No.
To expand on this: No.
It’s an immoral, disingenuous practice employed by corporations in their quest for rapid growth to attract venture capitalists. We do not require growth.
lemmy is already pretty active imo, so no need to fake that.
raddle.me moment
Did something similar happen over there?
Some user there confessed to making sock puppet accounts to fuel discussion. But I think it was in a specific subcommunity rather than a sitewide undertaking.
I’m not opposed to it, but that needs to be done on a separate instance cuz plenty of people are put off by that kinda thing
