Stay focused.

-- Shillsville (no@no.not), May 04, 1999

Answers

I'm shocked quite frankly

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), May 04, 1999.

What is a Shill ?

-- Pardon my ignorance (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), May 05, 1999.

A shill, at least in the parlance of this forum, is someone planted in the audience to participate for nefarious purposes; to minimize the message or marginalize the messenger.

In this instance, the GAO's water report thread was followed immediately by juvenile profanity. Possibly a random attack of sheer idiocy, or possibly to marginalize the perceived sanity or gravity of the entire forum, especially the nearby threads.

A shill is, to date, a mythological creature connected with government or industry (especially banking). On the one hand, it is purely imaginary, on the other, government has never allowed such democratic expressions to go unchecked, so suspicions may be justified.

-- Shillsville (no@no.not), May 05, 1999.

Many thanks for the enlightenment!

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), May 06, 1999.