I hate that - I don't think it's quite dishonest, but it doesn't feel real, either. Unfortunately, I think it's also a good idea:-(

Edit - hate is too strong a word, but still, it annoys me - see below.

Have fun basking in your honesty, all alone on your fantastic new site.

(if you were against it, that is.)

I said it's a good idea, and think it's probably effective. I still don't like it though, even if all things considered, there are a whole lot of worse things going on.

I wouldn't say the content was fake. They posted real urls to real stories they found interesting but under many different user accounts.

I don't think there's anything wrong with seeding your early content personally. As noted, the reddit folks did exactly that, and over time, it worked out.

I'm doing something similar with http://www.DailyHub.com (a social content site for business geeks). Right now, most of the links submitted are mine, but my hope is that over time, others will also start contributing.

Not all of us have a wide network of early users via YC. I'm envious.