I think it's lame when sites stoop so low to as to create fake online users that number in the thousands.

I won't name them here but I know of a few Dolphin sites that use the deceptive power of fake users. I think this is deceptive because it makes people think that your site is the place to be when it fact it's a ghost town. They will join with some expectation but then they soon discover they might be the only there along with a few lurkers here and there.

Here are some signs that the Dolphin site is using fake databases:

1. They have a forum but almost no activity. Even tho they may have a few thousand members.

2. The pictures don't match the site.

3. The pictures are cropped very similarly.

4. Their site traffic is nearly zero, see Alexa.com for this one.

5. If you check their stats block, no one is ever online.

So to all those lame Dolphin sites that use the fake database users, can you give me any reasons why you feel justified in doing so?