I think there's a bit of a difference between priming the pump so that your forum looks active, vs. having sockpuppets included in your active user numbers that

I think there's a bit of a difference between priming the pump so that your forum looks active, vs. having sockpuppets included in your active user numbers that you use to try to get funding. The former's a bit murky, but I'm okay with it at the start of something new and being phased out. The latter's straight up unethical and (IANAL) potentially illegal.