ATS Poll: Has ATS been infiltrated and infested with western establishment-paid shills?

So the word shill means:
An accomplice of a confidence trickster or swindler who poses as a genuine customer to entice or encourage others:
I used to be a shill in a Reno gambling club
• figurative the agency is a shill for the nuclear power industry
MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES
1.1A person who pretends to give an impartial endorsement of something in which they themselves have an interest:
a megamillionaire who makes more money as a shill for corporate products than he does for playing basketball

well if that's the case

a reply to: daaskapital
Yes, I believe that anytime the discussion is political, there are shills on both sides of the argument. There are time when it is shills only who are posting without any non-shill input.

Thanks for redefining what a shill is. But what do you call a post deliberately set up to detract from another post? Such as this one for example...

oops just noticed this is called a 'poll'. My bad...

Would it be considered a "shill" if someone were merely convinced of their stand on something despite a multitude of evidence showing otherwise? Would they be a "shill" or would they be just plain stupid and/or stubborn?
It's hard to give an accurate example here due to the many outlandish theories held by various groups so in the spirit of safety and not infringing on ideas that would lead us off topic, I'll give the following example:
Say "Bob" is of the firm belief that his hair is black. He has been told his entire life that it is blonde. His barber says blonde, his mother says blonde, the dictionary says blonde, the government says blonde, his next door neighbor says blonde. But, "Bob" looked in the mirror one evening without the lights on. It was fairly dark but not to the point of not being able to see at all. In this reflection, his hair appeared to him to be black. He decided that there were mysterious waves at work that only made it appear to be blonde but these waves could only function in full sunlight or UV type lighting available indoors and more common with the energy saving bulbs that he feels the government has forced us to buy by no longer offering the older type (and he read a link on the internet that said so).
As a result, is "Bob" now a shill for his hair being black and the rest of the world is against him by saying it's blonde except for the few people who bought into his theory and agrees with him that it's black even though they have never actually seen "Bob"?
Or... is "Bob" merely an idiot?

or, what if... ATS is actually a paid shill set up to distract people, misinform or guide thought patters away from things that are going on in the world in an attempt to better control the populace?

I can't imagine there isn't, when going into a thread and the same people come in to debunk (although I hate that word)the same issues as though their life depended on it yeah, call them shills(short for shillaber) or whatever... they exist.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I really like this kind of polling. Yes, I do think that there are some paid shills or agents that do "damage control". I had posted on a thread some evidence about a controversial story/topic. I presented my findings, and lo and behold, individuals whom I have never seen on ATS started to descend and try to debunk my information. I have been on ATS long enough that I have not seen those individuals since. They probably have multiple throwaway accounts on different computers/IPs and they appear again.
These are different from the usual trolls.

I was just browing the web, when I stumbled upon this page. I think it is by the illuminati, and it has some weird prophecies on it, like an asteroid that will hit Russia. Check it out: enlightened.gift...

i don't know, either way.

i don't see why it would matter on ats.

people here are pretty savvy and won't be swayed for the most part, by their rants and attempted derailing.

so i didn't vote on the poll.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

No offence, but this is not news. In fact you will know them by their deeds. They are the ones who dispute logic. They are persistent in their retarded statements. Trust me, they are so easy to spot and if anyone believes in what they say, despite logic....we don't need those people working to make our country better anyway. Might as well give a grenade to a baby. I just wish that I could get a job so useless and get paid so much. They are the strippers of the conspiracy world. They get paid just for being stupid. Add some more Fluoride to the water, your plan is not working s well as you expected you cockroaches.

a reply to: tsingtao

think of all the things that you might care about, if you weren't sick to freaking death of hearing about them.

Swaying public opinion can sometimes be as simple as being extremely obnoxious. Over the course of my internet life, I can think of all manner of members of this and other forums that were only here for elections, or only here for the Obamacare discussion, or Benghazi. I bet the Bundy thing had few here.

Determine a "shill" by their support of "popular opinion", or rather "the propaganda the elite want you to believe". Sure, be critical of all evidence and opinions, but be sure to know all "conflict-of-interests" because that is who shills will hold in allegiance (and it will show).

originally posted by: BluePanther
Yeah, I would be skeptical of any responses from "members" that discount evidence that is given to support "conspiracy facts" (not THEORIES).

You can win a war before firing a single bullet if you win the enemy's mind first - counter-intelligence.

You're right, if it were not for one thing. Most countries have a pure lineage of Asian strategy, Canadian strategy (for what that's worth), French strategy (to run as fast as you can from controversy lol) and European strategy (not bad) and etcetera, but America is a compilation of all of these and more. Just because the government tries certain psychological tactics on some, doesn't mean it will work on the mass as a whole. America is such a melting pot of culture, that is impossible to get us all on the same page by psychological warfare or bullying. If anyone has been an American long enough to be proud of it......theses jackasses have a real problem. There are approximately 377 million people in America..and they are out numbered by far. They want us to feel small so they can take over, and their webpage here even feigns ignorance on how many people live in America www.census.gov... They know how many. Its just the same game all over again. Government who feel so powerful, and feel they are total control, and then will find out that they will have to hire the best doctors that inflation can buy to remove an American boot from their ass. They want us to "bring it". Their arrogance precedes them, as in 1776...as they say, sometimes you get what you asked for. The elites think they can hide? There is no place on this earth that cannot be infiltrated....you think they would know this, but the funny thing about arrogance is that...you might as well have blind folds on. You think you know everything and have closed the door to true learning. Those who keep their minds open, free and uncompromised......cannot be stopped. The brain of every individual is highly underestimated as to how much information it can truly hold. Fluoride or no fluoride, its equivalent to a scar healing around a wound if you keep your brain active. This, they do not want you to know. We are not God, but he has given us 90% more than we know we have. Programming is the problem here, they are consistently programming us to devalue ourselves, to fear them, etc. , yet they create machines with artificial intelligence which are the greatest things going. Our brains created those machines, and are 10,000 times more complex. They didn't create us. We just all have to start using our brains in a more collective manner, and stop buying into all of this media garbage and rumors. You tell your mind what to consider....and it will!

originally posted by: DJW001

originally posted by: woodwardjnr

originally posted by: DJW001
a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Could we have a poll: ATS has been infiltrated by operatives of the Russian government/ Russia United Party?

Again i would put this down to people not agreeing with your perspective on the situation. You've absolutely zero evidence Russia is paying shills on ATS. If you have let's see it.

Five members joined ATS in March. Each of them posts pro-Russian and anti-NATO propaganda. Each such post always receives four stars. Am I just being paranoid? In any event, such a poll would be just as informative as this one.

I think we need a poll as to how the question about shill gets formulated into something like you say.

Always on the side of American government, no conspiracies exist, except for Anti-Nato propaganda and other countries out for you.

IMO this is the ultimate form of shilling, whether it is meant or not.

SHILL to me, means someone who is either unable, or unwilling to consider EVER that the side they take subconsciously could be totally wrong.

And speaks like the same people who have been had for the last 50,000 plus years.

IE has no IDEA, and does not CARE!

originally posted by: ParasuvO

originally posted by: DJW001

originally posted by: woodwardjnr

originally posted by: DJW001
a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Could we have a poll: ATS has been infiltrated by operatives of the Russian government/ Russia United Party?

Again i would put this down to people not agreeing with your perspective on the situation. You've absolutely zero evidence Russia is paying shills on ATS. If you have let's see it.

Five members joined ATS in March. Each of them posts pro-Russian and anti-NATO propaganda. Each such post always receives four stars. Am I just being paranoid? In any event, such a poll would be just as informative as this one.

I think we need a poll as to how the question about shill gets formulated into something like you say.

Always on the side of American government, no conspiracies exist, except for Anti-Nato propaganda and other countries out for you.

IMO this is the ultimate form of shilling, whether it is meant or not.

SHILL to me, means someone who is either unable, or unwilling to consider EVER that the side they take subconsciously could be totally wrong.

And speaks like the same people who have been had for the last 50,000 plus years.

IE has no IDEA, and does not CARE!

"Shill" specifically refers to a person taking part in an organized campaign of directing the flow and content of information.

The point of calling somebody a "shill" is that it implies that what they post is based on a higher agenda than their own, which they actively work for.

It is quite different from just one person expressing their own opinion, however erroneous they may appear.

And as for the guy you quoted, he's just paranoid. People who look to hard into connecting random numbers and events are either a highly advanced savant or deluded in the head.

The best part of all this "Russian misinformation agent" talk is that there's not really any Russians that hang out on ATS. Seriously, count them. The only one I remember was "maloy" but haven't seen anything from him in years. The Russians don't care about ATS. The active ATS community is like, 95% North American and UK. Yet some members treat this situation like Rocky and Bullwinkle.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

only shills i see are Russian paid and sponsored. they post RT and weird websites as a source. Russia has tried very hard to deceive the western people in turning their backs on Ukraine. Russia broke the treaty it signed, broke laws that haven't been broken since Saddam invaded and attempted to annex Kuwait.


same thing they did in Chechnya. the Russian FSB were caught red handed planting bombs during the Moscow bombings. everyone here makes absurd claims about 9/11 but a real conspiracy was staring them in the face.

how about the theater siege. The terrorist leader somehow escaped alive and was released but suddenly died in a car accident when the story leaked he was alive and involved.

a reply to: Vovin

why make Russia Today and station that is in english? that is a propaganda news service for the kremlin? Russia wants you to be questioning the gov why they are the fox in the hen house.

Russia spent more money funding anti war-movements in the US during the Vietnam war than they did arming the NVA gov.

Russia cares a lot. same deal as during the soviet union.

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: Vovin

The best part of all this "Russian misinformation agent" talk is that there's not really any Russians that hang out on ATS.

So you haven't noticed that some of the newer ATS members have strange syntax? If you were familiar with Slavic languages, you could probably hear the rolling "r" -s in some of these posts. I am not saying that they are paid agents, they may just be patriotic Russian citizens standing up for the country they love. In fact, I hope they are not professionals because they are so bad at their job. How do you think repeating the exact same phrase "NATO backed fascist Nazi thugs" five times in a single post is going to convince anyone of anything?

a reply to: DJW001

Right, you can't necessarily spot a disinfo agent by their syntax or appropriate usage of idioms and expressions, as some are obviously native speakers and "professional" at what they do.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I suspect there are some. I don't know that the number is huge, but I would be stunned if there were none at all. These days, you can't comment on a news article without seeing some that seem to be in that category. Ignoring a site this big seems unlikely. So, infiltrated by some, yes. Infested? No. I think most are here because the site is so good at weeding out such problems, and because we can discuss so many things in a civil fashion here. We members have widely different beliefs on various subjects, but overall, it's like a big family. I think we would notice a huge problem.