Here’s an effective shill strategy: Post an article with a very intriguing headline. When conspiracy users point out that the major intriguing item in the article is unsourced, you and your shill buddies pretend you don’t understand what a source is.

29  2017-05-28 by Oof_too_Humid

Then just argue with conspiracy users ad nauseum. Watch the upvotes as the post goes to the top of conspiracy and the comments are used to make us look like morons.

8 comments

You're assuming people here read the presented material before upvoting or downvoting it.

Not necessarily. There are parts to the strategy.
1. Intriguing headline -Yes, that's where many of the upvotes come from.
2. Once some people read the article, they immediately see a need for some sort of independent verification because the intriguing part of the article, the thing that "grabbed" people and made them want to know more, is completely unsourced.
3. Important point: I believe that most r/conspiracy users want to find the truth. They don't want to merely jump on a story and believe it. They are critical thinkers. So, they point out the problem with the article. That's where the fun begins.
4. Shills begin to argue with typical r/conspiracy users. Shills act like complete morons. Typical r/conspiracy users grow frustrated as they try to explain simple concepts to the shills.
5. Meanwhile, post rises to top of r/conspiracy. Casual visitors look at intriguing post because its at the top. Then casual visitors perhaps look at the clusterfuck comments of this intriguing shill post. Then casual visitor decides that r/conspiracy is a clusterfuck of people debating morons. Casual visitor moves on.

  1. Shills begin to argue with typical r/conspiracy users. Shills act like complete morons. Typical r/conspiracy users grow frustrated as they try to explain simple concepts to the shills.

I do this a lot, but often the counter argument is accusing me of being a shill.

"If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole."

Yeah, no, it only happens in this sub.

Like half of the Seth Rich stuff on the front page the past couple weeks showed this. It would be some bullshit from 4chan with no sources - tons of upvotes and all the comments calling bullshit.

Spot on.

If you find yourself 7 responses deep with someone who seems to be playing coy or stupid, or banally evasive in basic reasonable dialogue, it becomes clear as day that you are not having your run of the mill discussion with a fellow seeker.

Sounds like a certain cat-loving Russian.

No