[Fox2k]

Originally Posted by mihai11

This should have never been release. What is worse is that a VB team member is behind this.

Like you said, Floris: some people will enjoy themselves with this. The problem is that you should not envoy yourself in all circumstances. Personally, I reject relations with people that "envoy themselves" in this manner, and guess what: I still have a lot of friends. It's just a matter of choice.

There are a lot of people that steal (I mean in real life), but inventing a system that permits them to steal more easily (for example by automatically detecting old people, which are easy targets) is even more immoral than the actual act of stealing.

The web is still in its infancy. I hope that in the future will be laws against this kind of behavior.

Besides the moral priciple, there can also be implications on the long term:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=232188


Regards,
Razvan M.

Just a short note to everyone flaming Floris for this mod. If you are so upset about the concept of fake statistics then it would apepar to me that you are simply insecure about your site's ability to retain its members with original content. If a site is able to start up, use this mod to entice membership, then after a few months they have become a thriving community, well I have news for you - This mod didn't cause it. It may have accelerated the process a bit, but nobody in their right mind will register with a forum that has inflated numbers, then hang around if nothing interesting is going on. Your mentality is akin to stating that nobody should make a 6-figure income unless they have worked at mcdonalds for 10 years, no matter what their qualifications are. If this mod bothers you, don't use it. If you are running a large community site, then you are not a part of the target market, anyways.

As a side note I would also suggest that, having been in the position of a starting webmaster trying to create a community, do you not remember how difficult and time consuming it was? Would you not then be happy to discover a product that may decrease some of this burden for others? Or is it some sort of elitist mentality in which you feel that 'I went through the hardships, everyone else should go through it too'. If that's the case, then you have my pity.

</rant>

I can definitely appreciate the value that this mod would have both to sites just starting out, and those in other circumstances such as undergoing a database migration. Very nice work!