Replies to post #13301 on Charlestowne Premium Beverages Inc. (FPWM)

[gamood]

Hasher..Interesting usage of the term "shill"

Shill
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A shill is an associate of a person selling goods or services, who pretends no association to the seller and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer. The intention of the shill is, using crowd psychology, to encourage other potential customers, unaware of the set-up, to purchase said goods or services. Shills are often employed by confidence artists.

The word "shill" is probably related to "shillaber", a word of obscure early-20th century origin with the same meaning.

Shills are illegal in many circumstances and in many jurisdictions, because of the frequently fraudulent and damaging character of their actions. However, if a shill doesn't actually put uninformed parties at a risk of loss, but merely generates “buzz,” he or she may be legal. A person who is planted in an audience to laugh and applaud when appropriate, see "claque", or to participate in on-stage activities as a “random member of the audience,” is one example of a type of shill who usually operates legally.

Shills in gambling

The illegal and legal gambling industries often use shills to make winning at the games offered appear more likely than it actually is. For example, illegal three card monte peddlers are notorious employers of shills. These shills also often aid in cheating; they will disrupt the game if the mark is likely to win.

In a legal casino, however, a shill is sometimes a gambler who plays using the casino's money in order to keep games (e.g. especially poker) going when there are not enough players. (This is different from a proposition player who is paid a salary by the casino for the same purpose, but bets with their own money.)
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Shills on message boards

In online discussion media, such as message boards, discussion forums, and newsgroups, shills may pose as independent experts, satisfied consumers, or “innocent” parties with specific opinions in order to further the interests of an organization in which they have an interest, such as a commercial vendor or special-interest group. For example, an employee of a company that produces a specific product may praise the product anonymously in a discussion forum or group in order to heighten and generate interest in that product, or a member or sympathizer of a special-interest group may pose as a highly-qualified expert in a specific field in order to give apparently disinterested support to whatever cause the group promotes.

In some jurisdictions and in some circumstances, this type of activity may be illegal. In addition, reputable organizations may prohibit their employees and other interested parties (contractors, agents, etc.) from participating in public forums or discussion groups in which a conflict of interest might arise, or will at least insist that their employees and agents refrain from participating in any way that might create a conflict of interest.

In some cases, the members of an organization or the employees of a company may monitor and/or participate in public discussions and groups. Such people are not shills, since they don't attempt to mislead others. Some of them may monitor groups in order to better evaluate public and consumer attitudes about a certain product, issue, etc.; others may participate in order to provide information about products or other topics in a neutral way. Some companies allow their employees to participate anonymously in public discussion groups for the purpose of providing information or expressing opinions, as long as there is no intent to defraud and the employee's affiliation with the company is not mentioned (because mentioning the company might make a personal opinion seem like a corporate policy announcement, which would be both misleading and likely to incur liability for the company). Occasionally employees of a company may participate openly in discussions but will include disclaimers making it clear that they speak only for themselves. Finally, on rare occasions, employees of a company may participate openly in a discussion and speak officially on behalf of their employers—but when this occurs, often the employees are moderators of the discussion venue as well, and it is likely to be sponsored by the company (as opposed to venues operated by third parties or open to anyone, such as USENET).