What is a Shill?

A Shill - is a person who enthusiastically endorses a product or service whereas they are actually justifiying there own purchase or promoting the product in a "round about" way. The shill is often ill-informed and is prone to repeating "the company line" i.e. says exactly what everyone else has said without any original thought.

Like George Shillibeer (1797 to 1866) promoted his bus service from the Yorkshire Stingo in Marylebone to "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street" by submitting a review to the Morning Post saying how good it was - a Shill has a modern-day presence.

Review web sites and Forums are quite often posted to by those who are promoting their own agenda.

The shill seems to exhibit the characteristic of trying to appear smarter than they really are. They do this by unnessarary use of jargon and techinical terms that they have heard elsewhere. Thinking they gain credibility by using terms like "Santa Rosa" and "Montevina"

Shill Retailer

This is a retailer that just repeats the marketing data from the manufacturer - sometimes adding incorrect information (such as Centrino 2) to attract the attention of the unwary and search engine spiders. They hope that you won't notice and make a purchase through them in any case!

Shill Retailers are usually on-line stores and as such are not as well controlled or controllable!

What's the difference between a Scientist and a Salesman?

There is a religious analogy to be draw here - TF will leave it to you to make it!

A Scientist:

Is trained to work things out for themselves. If they are presented with a problem they think of ways to solve it by applying their knowledge. If they know of a product that will address their issue they will obtain it. If they don't they will think of ways to invent something that does.

A Salesperson:

Someone who doesn't know how something works but will try and sell you a solution to your problem. Even if they don't know of a product that is made to address your issue, this will not stop them trying to sell you something to fix it!

In the modern world we are encouraged to be salesmen. The likes of Dale Carnegie offer seminars and courses to train people to "Sell themselves". This is a pity - we should be encouraging our young to think for themselves.

Actually, "shilling" can take on at least a couple of forms: There is the outright promotion and there is the justification for one's own opinion (purchase, action whatever). Still, fact that it is all too easy these days to make your own statement - however it dilutes the message!