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  1. #1
    SitePoint Addict thachp's Avatar
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    Question Hiring people to post... Good idea?

    Hello... I'm thinking of hiring 4 people to post and make threads on my forum. $50 per month...of... 500 posts and/or threads (that's $.10 per post/thread)... Is this a good idea? Am i paying enough?

  2. #2
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    that is silly in my opinion, I have never heard of doing such a thing, I could see paying moderators if they have qualifications and they are giving out expert advice.

  3. #3
    SitePoint Evangelist j0n's Avatar
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    Its an intresting idea. I was thinking about doing this for my forums just to see how it went. If you decide to do it let us know how you got on.

  4. #4
    SitePoint Wizard silver trophy someonewhois's Avatar
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    If you scout out who you're going to pay, it works. If it's free for all, it's a horrible idea. Make sure the guys know what they're talking apart, and that they're smart.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by thachp
    Hello... I'm thinking of hiring 4 people to post and make threads on my forum. $50 per month...of... 500 posts and/or threads (that's $.10 per post/thread)... Is this a good idea? Am i paying enough?
    What's wrong with the current membership that you have there now?

    On one of my messageboards I offer Moderator positions to folks that have a minimum amount of posts.

    As Moderators I ask that they start x amount of threads per week. And establish themselves as personalities in their particular forum.

    These folks nominate themselves and then the general membership votes on whether they should be Mods or not.

    I wouldn't pay anyone outside of my forum to simply post in a forum or make threads.

    What I would do with that $50 per month is have contests.

    Like $50 for the most informative poster.

    $50 for the most popular.

    Others that pertain to your forum.

    Assign a moderator to run it for you each month and pay them.....maybe.

    But to just pay people outright to post......Nevers.

  6. #6
    SitePoint Evangelist Backlinker1's Avatar
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    i am guessing that this is a new forum and suffering from the 'no posts = no posters' syndrome that we all suffer from when starting a new community. It is fairly standard practice ( or so I believe ) to get a small group of people ( or even just yourself ) posting under different names to make the forum look busy and encourage others to join in.

    As to paying some people to do that..... thats up to you and them. I would not see any problem with it, given that fake posts are the norm on new forums.

    Graham
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  7. #7
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    I would not pay for posting, but I like the idea of giving away prizes for the first few months...

  8. #8
    SitePoint Addict thachp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by laidbackfella
    Assign a moderator to run it for you each month and pay them.....maybe.
    But to just pay people outright to post......Nevers.
    Yeah... I see what you mean.... I like the idea of hiring moderators. $50 per month of 250 posts/threads. Good?

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by thachp
    Yeah... I see what you mean.... I like the idea of hiring moderators. $50 per month of 250 posts/threads. Good?
    That's bad.

    You want people to post because they wanna post not because they have to post.

    In order to promote your board you have to do several things.

    1) Join other boards that share the same interests or possibly memberbase as yours.

    2) On those messageboards have a witty signature line and change it up every once in a while.

    3) Become a known personality on that board without giving up too much material that folks could find on your board.

    One strategy that I found useful for me and my forum was to allow my sarcastic personality to seep through my posts and answer people's questions. What I did was start a thread on a messageboard that focused on fraternity's and sorority's, since that was the main draw for my forum. You can view it here. It took off and earned me quite a few regular members on my messageboard.

    Another thing that I've recently done is found a book that talks about 48 Laws of Power. Well I don't buy into all of them but I felt that they were worth discussing so I take one a day and post a synopsis of that particular law. People that ask where they can see the whole list I tell them they just need to sign up for my messageboard and look in a particular section.

    You have to market yourself as well, otherwise your messageboard will mirror your internet appeal. If you have none, that's how many regular members you will have. If you pay someone to massage your board for you it will be their's and if they ever leave so will your boards appeal.

  10. #10
    SitePoint Enthusiast
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    After looking through your forums I have some tips for you.

    1) Rename the category Introduction to tScholars News and Information or something like that. Move the board entitled "Introductions" to General Chat.

    2). Rename General Chat I'd change the name and go with a student theme. Something like "Student Union" or "Student Center". I would combine the topics from Open Post and Gossip Box along with General Chat and have more General options. This way even folks not interested in the "Scholars" portion can still post.

    Introductions
    General Discussion (or Student Lounge) for any conversations
    Sports (or Locker Room) for anything sports related
    Entertainment for anything entertainment related
    Current Events for news and other current events
    Love and Relationships for love or loss discussions.
    tScholars Showcase (or Centerstage) for people to share artwork, poetry, short stories anything creative
    Gameroom (or Fun and Games) for all of the various types of messageboard games there are to play. By only have those current selections you discourage any other types of games being played.

    3) Peer Tutoring not quite sure of the intent so I have no comments.

    4) Under Extracurricular Activities

    I'd have:

    Clubs and Organizations
    Sports and Athletics
    Community Service
    Enrichment Experiences

    This way you will have it streamlined a deal better because you won't want to add each and every club like the debate team or the Chess Club.

    5) College Board seems good. I'd change a little of the wording of the titles.

  11. #11
    SitePoint Wizard cpvr's Avatar
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    Bad idea because they might start spamming your forum because there getting bad for it. So unless you want spam on your forum i wouldnt pay for anything espicially paying people to post. As people will do anything for money these days espicially people who dont make much. Just my 2cents
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  12. #12
    Intoxicated with the madness petertdavis's Avatar
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    I think it could work very well, or flop, depending on the person you hire.
    Peter T Davis

    I buy forums - PM me if you're selling.

  13. #13
    SitePoint Zealot HostsearchUK's Avatar
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    I've seen porn forums pay 0.05 per post and 0.10 per lead new user

  14. #14
    SitePoint Addict thachp's Avatar
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    Okay... I think i know what to do now...Thx a lot for all your replies.

  15. #15
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    Why not put that money into Adwords? If you pay .05 per click on Adwords and those people join and start posting for free I think you'd have a better return.

  16. #16
    Intoxicated with the madness petertdavis's Avatar
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    I've tried Adwords on a forum before and found it to be not effective.
    Peter T Davis

    I buy forums - PM me if you're selling.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by j0n
    Its an intresting idea. I was thinking about doing this for my forums just to see how it went. If you decide to do it let us know how you got on.
    Very interasting concept. I imagine it should work, to an extent, to bring in posters.


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