4 ms·

Being ethical and breaking law are different things. Not everything legal is ethical.

• kazinator 8y ago
  I can't think of what would be unethical about simply creating "astroturfed" user accounts on your own site. Some specific action that a "fake" account might take could be unethical, though it's hard to imagine what that could be such that it wouldn't be unethical coming from a "real" account. Well, that depends: if someone believes that user IDs X and Y are different people, when in fact they are one, has there been a breach of ethics from that situation alone.
  • cimmanom 8y ago
    Many consider deception to be unethical. However, on the scale of deceptions, many of us would consider faking a userbase in order to jump-start a community to be toward the white lie end of the spectrum.
    • kazinator 8y ago
      There are obvious examples of deception being thoroughly ethical.