Resource Collection
This post is meant to concentrate resources that help identify what a shill is.
Over time, this will be updated.
Initially, I will just post the few resources which suffice to identify shills much better than the average user:
Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies - most common logical fallacies in a single image.
How to Investigate the truth - a handy short guide on investigating potential shills.
COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of an internet forum - a classic collection of shill tactics.
Archived Mega-Thread from /r/shills (which, as you can guess, has been removed)
COINTELPRO Techniques
The techniques from the above PDF, in text format:
Technique #1 - 'FORUM SLIDING'
If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum - it can be
quickly removed from public view by 'forum sliding.' In this technique a number of
unrelated posts are quietly prepositioned on the forum and allowed to 'age.' Each of
these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a 'forum
slide.' The second requirement is that several fake accounts exist, which can be called
upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public. To trigger a 'forum
slide' and 'flush' the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into
each account both real and fake and then 'replying' to prepositined postings with a
simple 1 or 2 line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum
list, and the critical posting 'slides' down the front page, and quickly out of public view.
Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of
unrelated and unuseful postings. By this means it becomes effective to keep the
readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items.
Technique #2 - 'CONSENSUS CRACKING'
A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at www.abovetopsecret.com) is 'consensus cracking.' To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made - but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favour is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger 'evidence' or disinformation in your favour is slowly 'seeded in.' Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then 'abort' the consensus cracking by initiating a 'forum slide.
Technique #3 - 'TOPIC DILUTION'
Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues. This is a critical and useful technique to cause a 'RESOURCE BURN.' By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt (trolling ) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity. If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a 'gossip mode.' In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion. The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in. It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education is first determined of the group to determine at what level to 'drive in the wedge.' By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator.
Technique #4 - 'INFORMATION COLLECTION'
Information collection is also a very effective method to determine the psychological level of the forum members, and to gather intelligence that can be used against them. In this technique in a light and positive environment a 'show you mine so me yours' posting is initiated. From the number of replies and the answers that are provided much statistical information can be gathered. An example is to post your 'favourite weapon' and then encourage other members of the forum to showcase what they have. In this matter it can be determined by reverse proration what percentage of the forum community owns a firearm, and or a illegal weapon. This same method can be used by posing as one of the form members and posting your favourite 'technique of operation.' From the replies various methods that the group utilizes can be studied and effective methods developed to stop them from their activities.
Technique #5 - 'ANGER TROLLING'
Statistically, there is always a percentage of the forum posters who are more inclined to violence. In order to determine who these individuals are, it is a requirement to present a image to the forum to deliberately incite a strong psychological reaction. From this the most violent in the group can be effectively singled out for reverse IP location and possibly local enforcement tracking. To accomplish this only requires posting a link to a video depicting a local police officer massively abusing his power against a very innocent individual. Statistically of the million or so police officers in America there is always one or two being caught abusing there powers and the taping of the activity can be then used for intelligence gathering purposes - without the requirement to 'stage' a fake abuse video. This method is extremely effective, and the more so the more abusive the video can be made to look. Sometimes it is useful to 'lead' the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you 'do not care what the authorities think!!' inflammation. By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution.
Technique #6 - 'GAINING FULL CONTROL'
It is important to also be harvesting and continually maneuvering for a forum moderator position. Once this position is obtained, the forum can then be effectively and quietly controlled by deleting unfavourable postings - and one can eventually steer the forum into complete failure and lack of interest by the general public. This is the 'ultimate victory' as the forum is no longer participated with by the general public and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms. Depending on the level of control you can obtain, you can deliberately steer a forum into defeat by censoring postings, deleting memberships, flooding, and or accidentally taking the forum offline. By this method the forum can be quickly killed. However it is not always in the interest to kill a forum as it can be converted into a 'honey pot' gathering center to collect and misdirect newcomers and from this point be completely used for your control for your agenda purposes.
CONCLUSION
Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM. Once they are aware of these techniques the operation can completely fail, and the forum can become uncontrolled. At this point other avenues must be considered such as initiating a false legal precidence to simply have the forum shut down and taken offline. This is not desirable as it then leaves the enforcement agencies unable to track the percentage of those in the population who always resist attempts for control against them. Many other techniques can be utilized and developed by the individual and as you develop further techniques of infiltration and control it is imperative to share then with HQ.
Additional Tactics
A few tactics that I have personally seen used that do not directly fall under any of the above categories.
Identifying Division Points
This is not a tactic by itself, but rather the foundation for many of the following tactics.
For example, a division point between various anti-censorship individuals on this forum can be the attitude towards a specific race, gender, religion, and so on.
By identifying those points, they can execute divide-and-conquer tactics much more efficiently.
Artificial Radicalization
This tactic is a form of false-flagging, that can also be applied long-term as a strategy.
The shills create an account that poses as an extreme supporter of the views that serve as a division point (for example, a raging anti-semite who yearns for a jew genocide, or a feminist who keeps advocating "killing all M2F trans").
Those accounts then go to spread those views, in the most visible threads, intentionally making an ass out of themselves, treading the edge of the rules in order not to get banned.
Apart from the above, they will also be making regular posts at the appropriate forums, farther radicalizing the community who actually hold those views.
This achieves both increasing the division between the forum users, and deterring new potential visitors from participating in the forum.
"Extremists" Exodus
We, as individuals, all hold different views. As a social group, we choose to at least coexist with those who hold different views, due to understanding the benefits of a bigger group - and, in some cases, knowing the differences between different group members are still much smaller than those between the group and a bigger outside group.
Those differences, however, can be exploited by bad actors to saw division among the group, and try to weaken it by demanding (via a call-to-action) )the relative extreme sub-group be excluded the the larger group, then re-defining what "extreme" is so a new sub-group are now under the new definition.
Promotion Of Problems, And Net-Negative Solutions
First, the shill organization will either fabricate a problem, or artificially inflate an existing one.
Then, in the posts referencing those problems, they will demand (either directly, or through heavy implication) a specific solution.
Thing you'll notice, however, is that those solutions are always a net negative for the platform.
When presented with an alternative, net positive solution for the platform, they'll do their best to find excuses to dismiss it, or outright ignore it (on Reddit, they'd be able to hide it by downvote brigading, too).
Sometimes, they will intentionally refuse to consider solutions at all, merely repeating the problem and how bad it is (e.g "Saidit is a racist shithole. Guess the search for the next Reddit continues").
The reason for this is that they are, obviously, not in it to solve problems for this site (which would help it), but rather to try to scare of new members, and saw division between existing ones.
Concern trolling falls under this category.
Identifying Traits
In the end of the day, operating shill accounts en-masse requires compromising their behavior pattern as opposed to humans - a dedicated human operating few specific accounts may be indistinguishable from actual posters, however, such accounts are much more expensive to maintain than "cheaper" accounts who simply come out of nowhere at the right moment, and disappear right back into the void the moment the disinformation campaign is over.
A compromise between the two approaches is having a few accounts which do maintain a pattern of consistent behavior, but who's activity is almost exclusively to promoting the agenda (or subset of agendas) at the time.
Finally, there are also AI botnets who learn and spam human-like responses to promote an agenda. Those are easily identifiable, as they'll usually be spewing simple agreement/disagreement one/two liners at most relevant topics. Those are, however, dangerous when paired with dedicated human operators, as those accounts become much harder to identify.
So, here is a short list of traits - note that they are just the low hanging fruit, and more expensive shills will make sure to circumvent most of them.
Short History
The most obvious shills are relatively new accounts, or old but inactive accounts that "suddenly feel the deep urge" to participate in topics on a specific discussion.
Note that not all such accounts are shills, some might be legitimate new users - but, this can often be used with conjunction of the other traits.
Agenda Focus
The vast majority of shill accounts (all but the most expensive ones) will be focused on their daily agendas, which will be reflected by their comment history.
This has been pointed out on Reddit more times than I can count - specific accounts who only post in political subreddits, and always promote the narrative the MSM is pushing at their time of posting.
Another way to identify Agenda Focus is by looking not at what they post, but what they dont post.
Many such accounts will have little to no posts not related to their subset of agendas.
If they post in a niche interest sub, their posts are still going to be promoting a narrative rather than discussing the hobby/field itself - you wont usually see them on a random fishing sub actually talking about fishing.
This is because they aren't on those accounts to relax or have discussions about what they do for fun - they're on them to work.
To be continued
This post may be periodically updated to bring new shill tactics to light.
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