<story><title>How Reddit&apos;s cofounders built Reddit with an army of fake accounts</title><url>http://www.dailydot.com/business/steve-huffman-built-reddit-fake-accounts/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>nkurz</author><text>I&apos;m surprised that this behaviour seems to be tolerated.  Yes, it works, but so do a lot of other slimy subterfuges and shady business practices.  I&apos;m steadfastly of the opinion that if you can&apos;t be honest about how you are doing it, it shouldn&apos;t be done, and shouldn&apos;t be condoned.  I do not believe that ends justify means.  Lies and deceit make for a lousy foundation.&lt;p&gt;Would the site really have been worse off if the same posts had been submitted under the founders&apos; real names?  Instead of starting out with false pretenses, could they have encouraged their friends to contribute?  I think once one goes down this path, the success of the whole endeavor is tainted. Yes, crime frequently pays and cheaters often win, but that&apos;s something that we as a community should work to change.</text></comment>
<story><title>How Reddit&apos;s cofounders built Reddit with an army of fake accounts</title><url>http://www.dailydot.com/business/steve-huffman-built-reddit-fake-accounts/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>citricsquid</author><text>Alexis has posted about this before, a few years ago I think. He has lots of similar things on his blog about how reddit started, eg: &lt;a href=&quot;http://alexisohanian.com/how-reddit-became-reddit-the-smallest-biggest&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://alexisohanian.com/how-reddit-became-reddit-the-smalle...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The video is worth watching though, it has more insights than just fake users.</text></comment>