VB number of members - any way to "cheat" on this ?

[D. Thomas]

I ask because I've noticed another VB forum that has half the number of posts as mine, has over 3 times the number of members. (for some perspective on this, my site has about 1,000,000 posts and 32,000 members and theirs has 500,000 posts and 92,000 members)

We seem to be "growing" in number of posts at about the same rate, so how is this possible ? One might conclude my site simply has more "productive" writers, but I really wonder if the other site isn't somehow inflating member numbers to help increase their advertising revenue (via higher rates justifiable via larger member numbers...sort of like "circulation" in a paper magazine)

Can member numbers be hacked and if so, how to check this ?

[Steve Machol]

Yes someone can edit vB to report an invalid member count, and no there is no way for you to tell this.

[MRGTB]

I also knew of a site once that used a hack to inflate the "online members" count also.

[D. Thomas]

Yes someone can edit vB to report an invalid member count, and no there is no way for you to tell this. Hmmmm.... I suspected as much. Frustrating there is no way to tell however. Could one not view the member list and literally count the names on the list ? Would be very tedious and might take days but could be done right ?

I forgot to mention that on the site in question, they seemed to increase over 10,000 members in just one week !!! It takes *years* for my (twice as large in post count) site to get 10,000 members. Maybe the easier thing would be for me to keep tabs on the numbers and look for sudden huge jumps in their number :)

[Steve Machol]

No, that is not a surefire way to check this.

[D. Thomas]

No, that is not a surefire way to check this.
Why not ? Because part of the "edit" or hack would involve creating mass numbers of bogus member names out of thin air...or ?

[Steve Machol]

Because there are two options in the Admin CP to control which members and usergroups show up on the memberlist. Therefore this is not a reliable method. Even if it were, the person running that forum can edit the code anyway he wants to deceive you. Sorry I was not clear about that.

[D. Thomas]

I just joined the site in question and clicked on the member list. Here's the good part.... I don't even have to count them as the actual number only goes to 26,897 !! So he's added 74,000 to the total on his stats page ! (up to 101,000 members now :rolleyes:)

I mean if his member list only goes to 26,897 there is no freakin way he has more members than that right ? :)

[MRGTB]

I'm not sure, but is there not an option to NOT display inactive members with a 0 post count in the members list. or something like that, which basically means not all members get displayed.

[D. Thomas]

I'm not sure, but is there not an option to NOT display inactive members with a 0 post count in the members list. or something like that, which basically means not all members get displayed. Ah, that may be it. I just checked and a random check of 4 pages and found no members with 0 posts. This must be one of the two options that Steve mentioned that make counting members one page at a time unreliable.

Still, 76,000 members (out of 101,000 total) have never posted ?

[Zour]

Could they be using 'The Fake Users' - hack?

In that hack you can choose for them to be 'Guests' - or 'Members' of the given site.

[MRGTB]

Could be the case, like I said before. I knew a site about a year ago a lot like this situation here now. In the end I got it out the owner that he had created a huge site offline using fake members and a fake "current online users count".

But it did work in getting that site members. But to me, if was obvious. Because even though the site had thousands of threads posted. They were all threads with 5-6 word replies all the time, that talked a load of rubbish. Thats what gave it away for me.

And the online count was always showing like 2000+ members online all the time. but the site was getting like 1 new post every couple of hours, or a day. LOL

[Floris]

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=117933

They could have used my mod, or .. they manually edited vBulletin.

It's visible source software, everything's possible if you know how to do it.

[David Grove]

There are lots of explanations, and they don't have to involve conspiracy theories. Perhaps his forum gets a lot of one-time posters asking a question and not returning. Perhaps he gets lots of spam registrations (who doesn't), and he bans them instead of deleting them. Why does it matter, anyway?

[Lenni]

True, it shouldnt matter to you since your community is running well, obviously.
My competitor also has 200.000 members while only a couple of thousand more posts, something in the 80.000 range. My having just 6000 members - well. I think thats better.

[cheat-master30]

I'd say it's pretty likely he's just not deleting spam registrations. Many people, including myself don't delete them because it allows for more information to be taken to prevent future spamming and stops the same spammer signing up with the same username again. Look at your own forum. Hover the mouse over the last member link:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/member.php?u=92524

If you didn't delete such members, you'd probably have the exact same member count or more than they do.

They could alternatively also simply get a lot of people joining and either posting once and never being seen again, lurking or just failing to get past verification measures.