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> every website that depends on community activity, starts as a ghost town, with fictional accounts Apparently, this is very common practice on dating websites

• ardit33 19y ago
  Yes, dating websites have that, but there is clear maliciousness in that, as they try to make you think somebody is interested on you, so you can fork money. News.yc is not trying to bilk money out of you, or try to play with your emotions. PG using nickb's name (if it is so), might be similiar to countless of writers that user pseudonims on their work. I doesn't make them worse people for doing so. Anyways, all web 2.0 have gohsts, or test accounts, youtube, friendster (used to have them marked as test), facebook, you name it. and of course, we have Tom of myspace, the most profilic account ever (who lied about his age too). So, what? The value of news.yc is the great submissions and comments comming from everybody, and not just pg, nickb, or whoever else.
  • xirium 19y ago
    Another difference is that dating sites typically "borrow" the images of very hot young ladies. That's certainly a much greater level of deceptiveness.
  • raganwald 19y ago
    I used to make and sell software for classified ad management, including personals. There is a loose code of ethics for newspapers: they will post "filler" ads if there aren't enough paying customers, however they never pretend to contact a customer and they maintain custoemr privacy. For example, one client had filler adverts in their personals section. There was a box number for snail mail replies, and their strict policy was that all replies to the fictitious ads were shredded unopened and unread. Just an anecdote, no opinion on what is and is not legitimate business...