Shill or not, he doesn't advance much of an argument.

Post #30,061 by Another Scott 2/27/02 5:48:11 PM Reply	Shill or not, he doesn't advance much of an argument. Hi, Whether Squidley works for W-E or MS or gets paid by Bill doesn't bother me much. What bothers me is that his apparent intent in posting is disingenuous. He asks rhetorical questions of us, or questions "why was the tying claim remanded?" or the like when these questions can be answered by his examination of the original sources. He obviously thinks that he's making a point, or he's hoping to make a point on the response, but he's trying to have his opponents do all the work. As you point out, he often doesn't answer direct questions while expecting answers from others. If he wants to advance a position and back it up, fine and dandy. Healthy debate is good. Elisa-esque rhetorical questions don't add much to the conversation though. In short, I think he's a troll and not a shill. Trolls get old fast. My $0.02. Cheers, Scott.
Post #30,074 by ben_tilly 2/27/02 7:20:47 PM Reply	That is exactly the idea Put out minimal energy at points where you are afraid that contrary public discussion would be strongly detrimental to your interests to sap as many opposing resources as you can. Disingenuous questions here is a rather effective way to execute that strategy, don't you think? I invite everyone to take a look at the flamewar in the Microsoft forum, look at how much energy went on our part into that, and ask what some of those people, if they had been involved in other discussions on other forums, might have done. Thin in particular in terms of arguments advanced for throwing the book at Microsoft, which might be picked up by reporters and then find their way back to a certain judge. Hell. There were arguments that appeared in that discussion which might have done damage elsewhere! But it didn't. All of that knowledge and perspective was bottled up here where it was safe (for Microsoft. Not a bad investment... Ben
Post #30,737 by Brandioch 3/4/02 6:14:50 PM Reply	Un-intended consequences? While that may be his aim, what he is accomplishing is to have us generate very clear, pointed counters to his points. Which is fine, if they remain here. But I also frequent other online forums and have no problem posting in those. ZD used to be a great place to encounter the MS astroturf.
Post #30,093 by morganek 2/27/02 10:32:37 PM Reply	That could be the point I don't mean to butt in, but I've read through the posts, and. . . Argument or not, if a shill's job is to see to it that nothing critical of Microsoft goes unanswered--or rather, un-responded-to--then he's doing a heck of a job. The downside from the shill's standpoint is that vying for the last word only elicits more discussion about MS. The upside is that pat rhetoric is very effective on MS "true believers". BTW, I know I'm using the word wrong, but do you ever wonder how the word "rhetoric" has come to carry a negative connotation? Mike

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