The theory--and it's a really, really old chestnut by now--is that "bashers" are paid by the Evil MMs to help them with their shorting activities.
I'm one of the best "bashers" out there, and have been for nearly 20 years. No one has EVER offered to pay me to post. No one has ever asked any other "basher" I know to post for pay.
It's message board mythology.
Now, promoters ARE paid to post. But that's easily provable. Here at IHub, some of them actually make disclosure.
Everyone here is disproving your theory and, they are right. No conspiracy exists.
However, I think it's helpful to take a different approach. Assume that your theory is spot on. In that case, since the "MM's" and "bashers/naysayers" are all powerful, why take the other side? No reason to invest in a sure loss.