Many people are easily triggered these days. They have a hyperactive kneejerk reaction to just about anything. I've noticed it a lot, with everything. Social issues, vape issues. It's trendy to just jump all over shit and 'call something out' regardless what it is. People can be like 'so my mod's having this probl...' - "SMOK SUCKS, FUCK SMOK" - '... yea well it's a lost vape mod, so it's doing this thing where.. "SMOK SUCKS!!!!".
Fake. Another favorite. Everything is 'fake', if it doesn't immediately work and make someone happier than a technocolor unicorn it's 'fake'. Fake news, fake batteries, fake you name it. Dude so I was using a qtip to clean my ear and the stem bent a little. Well what the fuck do you expect, you bought fake qtips. wtf? Okay. You turn on a lamp and the bulb blows (hey, believe it or not this used to happen once in awhile for the younger generation unfamiliar). It's not automatically a fake bulb. Sometimes shit just wears out and breaks.
Shill falls under this category. Everyone is a shill. "So I bought this mod for the purposes of.. " - SHILL! Overuse of a word that sharply declined in popularity from the 1800's until the 1930's/40's and is steadily making its way back up in recent years. Even if the circumstances were there and someone did somehow profit from something they have a vested interest in while promoting it, there's always the possibility they actually believe in it and their opinion is honest. Opinions are subjective so hard to qualify as genuine or disingenuous. We live in a triggered society now though so that condition can never exist and someone absolutely positively must be a shill at all times.
A perfect example, I tried selling Kirby vacuums. The job lasted a few months, I stopped because I sold one in like 3mo. Shittiest salesman ever. I genuinely liked the product. I thought they were high priced when I tried to sell them, I still think they're priced pretty damn high. I still recommend if someone has the budget for one, go for it. One of the best vacuums I've ever tried and I tried a shit ton of them. That was some 18-20yrs ago and I certainly don't earn special 'kirby points' for praising them, though some would still likely call me a shill simply because I sold them at one point.
Not sure what people expect, those with experience enough to do thorough reviews and comparisons when it comes to vape gear likely work at a shop or own a shop. It's a natural environment when you're around products all day long to have knowledge of them. It's also pretty common to advertise various things, it keeps the light bill paid. Commercial advertising is literally what keeps the local news and television programming available, I guess that makes every actor/show a shill as well. Yes some reviewers go overboard and say everything is awesome simply to keep getting free things and to be considered for future products to review so there's a bit of truth. Shills do exist, but not to the extent that everyone slings words and labels around they way it's become so trendy to do these days.
Maybe I'm just getting older and grumpier as time goes on. Half the time so many labels get thrown around so often I wish schools still offered a fucking English class once in awhile to reacquaint people with the basics of words, how and when to use them without butchering and bastardizing it.
I'd agree that people sharing advertising links and further promoting items for a chance to win are guilty of some of the same things as shills but not sure it makes them one. It's pretty obvious they're sharing a link or getting 'likes' purely as an entry requirement for an item, not necessarily an endorsement or an act of deception. If they were simply throwing links around and telling everyone 'check it out, it's awesome and works great!' without revealing they were increasing their odds of getting perks or swag or winning an item for doing so then yes, they'd be a shill.
