Paid to Post?

So, I was checking out MS TaskMarket (via lifehacker, I'm not shilling it), and laughing at the ridiculously low number of jobs.

Lo and behold there's one advertised in the Writing section looking for forum posters.

Quote:

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I have started a forum dedicated to the HP Mini-Note PC. I am hoping to get some new members and build traffic to site. Register and I will pay you $.20 per post ($1 for 5 posts).

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Kind of shady, no? Should this kind of thing be discouraged? Also, how much is Wannabe giving FK a bulk discount rate?

Well not quite as shady as the one idiot that just copied the FK database and put it up as his own forum. :rolleyes:

Whatever happened to that?

Also not quite as shady as starting a new forum by making a bunch of fake users and having "discussions" with yourself...
Ok, I admit it... every forum project I've been involved with has included "seeding" the forums with "sample" threads. So shoot me.

Paying for posts really doesn't seem all that different than hiring content writers to fill your informational site with a few hundred articles.
What matters ultimately is the quality of the content.

When you ask whether this kind of thing should be discouraged, what exactly do you mean?
Discouraged by who, and how?

Wannabe who?

I used to lurk at a webmasters forum, and I think this is not a rare practice. It's even encouraged.

I don't think it's shady either, as long as the generated content is good quality, I don't see how it could affect any users that subscribe to the forum organically. In the end they get good content...is it that bad if some members get paid to collaborate in a forum?

The thing is that building a successful forum is very difficult, because you wouldn't sign up if there are no members, and it won't have members because nobody is signing up. So I guess this might help to encourage users to sign up. Although, in the end, it'll be the quality of the content that will keep the site alive. Like flashkit, this site is crap, but the members have made a great community of it.

I get paid to post here and I got a bonus for being a "mod"- no one else?

Why doesn't he just install a forum bot? ;)

i get paid in pretzels and shaving cream. mmmm, i can taste the shaving cream now.

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Originally Posted by lefteyewilly

i get paid in pretzels and shaving cream. mmmm, i can taste the shaving cream now.

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That reminds me of a Stag party i went to... not a good night for the groom to be LOL