beware while buying forums, now there are many people selling forum databases and there are many fake user online status generators available. These FAKE MODS and DB makes any forum live So be careful while buying forums, only buy from reputed members. and register and stay with the forums for a while.
I don't think it's the proper section for this thread but you are right few days ago i saved someone on SP from paying 11k $ in a forum like this and he was so happy for me uncovering the scam and i was happy to test my detective abilities
Look at the members list. Say they have 100,000 "members" and you go to member list and it says 200 displayed, 180,000 have set theirself to private, yo uknow its fake
hire me and i'll tell you jk you can always check archive.org and also register in the forum and check the posts and open some threads to see are the threads old but bumped or they are natural those are the basics to start with
sorry for posting it in wrong place, but I dont think many people visiting general discussion and underground. member list is not a problem for fakers, as if they brought a forum DB, all members will list on them. Other things we can do is. 1) PM some active members for some small doubts, if they replied we can make sure atleast they all are active. 2) try to check when members are last active (some forums permit it) 3) post some sample popular topics on forum and check replies
Thanks for the tips rahulkr, and also for the warning. Definitely given me and a lot of others something to watch out for.
As someone who runs a forum, I frequently delete spammy sign ups and remove inactive members. My forum has something like 330 members, but each person has made at least one legitimate post along the way. If I did not manage my forum so well, I would have more than 5,000 "members" to show for it.
I also noticed that a lot of forums fake the number of members to make the forums look more popular than they are. I think it is easier to start a forum than to buy one. Usually forums that are highly successfull are not for sale.