What Is A Shill?

[satisphied]

Shwill?

 

[Denise]

Shill - Google it and the meaning

It's basically a plant on the site who is affiliated or in league with a certain organization, group, or business - but publicly pretends to be impartial and not connected with it at all - while they give the impression they are an independent customer and helping you - uses 'crowd psychology' to encourage or persuade members and other readers to make purchases.

So, they could be 'shilling' for a certain web site or for an email scammer.    It is against this site's rules (I hope you've read those 2-3 times).

 

[opiated999]

Should've looked that one up..But point well taken, Ty

 

[davidnc1959]

Shill............  Since this question/topic has been brought up I have a question about it.  How can the "powers to be" on this board actually label someone a shill with no actual real proof?  My point is, I have a very good source that appears to be currently "unknown" by this board, but I have not posted about it due to the fact if I posted and a few members ordered and for what ever reason was displeased with their service/products, certain members would be quick to label me a shill.  Of course, being called a shill would not cause  me to loose any sleep as I have been called much worse. 

Thank you in advance to any and all who care to respond.  Have a nice evening.

David

 

[Denise]

To my understanding, you are a shill if you benefit in come way from endorsing the site or email information.  Not if you're just sharing info about, for example, a site you found satisfactory and worth mentioning for others to check out.. 

As you say, people could blame you if trouble or problems so it would be well-advised to know the situation and person very well, to be totally truthful about everything, and feel confident yourself that this would be helpful and not harm people.

I've read posts on here where people try out new web sites, kinda agree to risk loss, for the benefit of dbg's knowledge thread.

I just realized something. I mean I read it but not until now did it hit me.  I've read numerous posts where people have agreed to communicate with unknowns recommended by people.Possibly risking their money to learn of a site's legitimacy and service.  To do consumer investigations of sites and gather data for everyone's benefit.  What an unselfish act to put yourself in uncertain situations and collect information for dbg members, and the public's knowledge. To expose unscrupulous scammers and con artists.

Again, I express admiration of the DBG and 99% of the members I've had contact with thus far.

 

[cheftell]

A shill is the lowest of form of life next to a scammer, then comes a troll.

 

[Boo Radley]

Agreed. I started besfsavingsrx because R asked me to. I stated that openly in my post. Then I placed a couple of small orders and reported. Then I went back to R.

I didn't get anything free but when others post about has anyone heard from R or they can't get in touch with him I smugly pat myself on the back bc he never doesn't respond.

 

[cymbaline]

Serious question... whats a troll ?

So the scum totem pole is as follows ???

Troll

scammer

shill

thanks rp3

 

[Heisenberg / HNB]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=forum+troll

Not really a totem poll as they all have different meanings.

 

[cymbaline]

Thanks heis. that shines so much light ...

There's alot of trolls everywhere....

Don't frequent alot of forums . but YouTube is.filled with these scum . i never understood why ppl get joy out of.causing trouble.

Truth be told in real life im a ball buster. but at least i do it face to face . and if i.can dish it then i can defiantly take it.

I always thought these "troll ish " people were kids/teenagers because most of their posts/replys are something a little kid would say when you hurt their feelings

 

[Denise]

A troll is a person on the site to disrupt it, cause dissension or problems, offer bad advice or false information, make inflammatory statements, provoke members, and basically be a PITA anyway they can to make the site unpleasant.  They often will make some 'good' posts at first so people believe they are ok, but their true self always surfaces even in little ways.  After a while it's easy to pick them out. 

I'm politically active and have a political website of my own, in blog form, since 2010 (almost 1/2 million visits to it last yr - inactive lately I've been so sick).  But as an administrator on 3 other political sites past few yrs I had to deal with trolls, plants, and downright nasty arse people. I despise trolls - at least I have some respect for people who come to my page to disagree or debate an issue, but these sneaky little b*st*rds - they're cowards.  I'm also active on Twitter,  have about 4000 faithful followers - the trolls try to infiltrate my page constantly - I ban them to troll hell asap and 'out' them.  I warn people 'don't come on my page with your bs or you're gone for good' - which includes resorting to name-calling when you have no facts to backup your opinion or statements.  It's one time when I'm pretty hard-hearted - as these jerks deserve.  Don't waste your time trying to talk when you come across one. Kick to the curb.

 

[Guest]

It bears pointing out that there are different types of shills, too.

The noob shill is easy to detect. He has a generic, topical user name like "drugbuyguy", or maybe something nonsensical. Sometimes the user name is in ALL CAPS. He has been a member of the board for 3 days, and he has 8 posts, in different fora but all with the purpose of unreserved endorsement of the same as-yet-untested source. Sometimes the endorsements are even OT in another source's thread. This type of shill is usually caught and banned immediately, perhaps roping in a few unsuspecting noobs before he gets a chance to go on another IP and create a new account.

The pro shill is a lot more difficult to spot. She will be a long-standing, relatively trusted member of the board. A shady vendor will contact her, offering a very sweet deal if she agrees to use her credibility and social standing in the community to endorse him. Maybe he will send her a few samples, too, and they'll be good. "What's the harm?" she might think to herself? He clearly sells real products, and they're good, and no one will need to know that she's getting a little on the side for each order. A few more solid early orders later, the whole board jumps in, and the "vendor" takes everyone's money and runs. Sometimes the pro shill will get caught, and a drama bomb will go off, but sometimes not.