Shilling has been a fundamental practice and part of business for centuries. Its nothing new, and while often times it can be easy to detect who and who does not have an agenda, it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine if a source is truly credible or not. When it comes to hi-fi audio and video, more times than not the issue is never completely black or white.
I think most people can agree that nearly all hi-fi operations depend largely off of buzz and enthusiasm, especially for consumer direct companies that sink few dollars into paying for those color paged ads (eg; reviews) in popular mag’s. Naturally, some manufactures/dealers have no quips in offering a visible customer an incentive or two for their time in helping to generate or maintain that enthusiasm. So how can you tell the difference between a person or persons that personally and financially benefits off of product recommendations to those that do not? Unfortunately, there is no real solid answer I’ve come up with and most of the times it will boil down to how perceptive you are and how active you are in various communities. Even then, you are likely to peg it wrong at least once or twice.
From personal experience; I’ve seen situations to where a customer is so enthused about a product that their gushing reviews and promotions can easily be interpreted as them being nothing more than a paid shill; when in fact, they were just incredibly vocal… nearly to the point of being a liability to the company that makes the product that said person is trying to so vehemently support. While tempered enthusiasm often yields the highest degree of credibility in the eyes of most readers; some people simply lack composition and let their emotions do the communicating which can send misleading messages. Yet on the other hand; sometimes things are exactly what they appear to be.
I’ve also had a few surprising moments when I discovered a few highly respected members of various communities turned out to be receiving under the table benefits and spiffs for their tactically placed suggestions found here and there. Of course, there are also those that just happened to find something they like and do their best to lead others in the same direction in hopes they too can share the joy.
Shills or not; recommendations, passion, and popularity are driving factors that cause season and un-seasoned veterans alike to lay down their green. If you spend enough time in the hobby; weeding out the shills from the sea of genuine enthusiasts recommendations becomes an easier process. You may recognize someone’s style of posting throughout different forums, recognize the same IP address or sometimes more obviously; user-name, and will recognize when commentary borders on ridiculous / suspicious. Unfortunately there is no real formula to go by. The best you can do is exercise common sense and take the extra time for some leg-work.
