strawmen

noun

1. 1.The third party who makes a straw purchase for another person.
2. 2.A doll or scarecrow, particularly one stuffed with straw.
3. 3.An innocuous person or someone of nominal or lesser importance, as a front man or straw boss.
4. 4.An insubstantial concept, idea, endeavor or argument, particularly one deliberately set up to be weakly supported, so that it can be easily knocked down; especially to impugn the strength of any related or contrasted thing or idea.
5. 5.An outline serving as an initial proposal for a project, usually refined iteratively.