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Yes, Bush2k is the 'James Carville' of the MS/Freeper scene.

But he doesn't bother me much, I mainly feel sorry for him.

The ones that were *really* annoying were banned. InnocentBystander threatened to beat up people who criticized MS. Don Joe would post 5, 10, 15 insults an hour in a thread, never once discussing the actual topic -- and often threaten 'libel' lawsuits against anyone that criticized MS. MacAttack was another prize.

My personal favorite tactic of theirs was the lawsuit threats. I feel that's an automatic 'win' on these boards. When your opponent threatens to sue you, you've gotten to him!

From what I understand, the main goal of the paid posters is two-fold:

Post a stream of stories with pro-MS slants, making sure the headline is a pro-MS spin line.
Bump that story as often as possible, typically by making outrageous inflamatory comments and insults that are certain to elicit responses.
Count on the fact that 95% of the readers will never click on the thread, but will only see the MS 'spin' line.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, shout down and insult any criticism of MS. If they can annoy MS critics enough to drive them away, they can effectively silence criticism of MS.
Were you around when MS started all this paid-poster stuff to trash OS/2 online, a million years ago? Thru usenet to the web to here, this is literally the 15th or 20th time I've seen the same M.O.
Pathetic, yes. But typically the paid posters have no actual skills, and paid liar is about the best they can aspire to in life.

The ones that were *really* annoying ...

I missed out on most of these really annoying Microshills here. From your description, just as well.

Back in the hay days of OS/2 Warp, I was too busy enjoying using it to be posting on bulletin boards, about that or anything else. Though I do recall vaguely spending many hours posting on some board (Usenet? ... no ... CompuServe) concerning JPSoft's 4DOS.

Yes, Bush2k is the 'James Carville' of the MS/Freeper scene.
But he doesn't bother me much, I mainly feel sorry for him.
The ones that were *really* annoying were banned. ...

2. * Bump that story as often as possible, typically by making outrageous inflamatory comments and insults that are certain to elicit responses.

Seems that Bush2000 has now read your description and has decided it's a good plan of action. I wonder if he will go the way of the rest of 'em.