Shilling is illegal. And for over a year, I've had a chance to carefully document a person who is incredibly successful at it. In fact, given what my petition is about (recovering all earnings for writers on HubPages and the ensuring they can remove their author content), I'm surprised thousands of people haven't signed my petition (yet). But here's the deal: I never joined HubPages and I do not participate in their forums. Yet, somehow they have imposed restrictions on what I can post on InfoBarrel and in its forum. Even more outrageous is the fact that (at least) one shill has infiltrated InfoBarrel's iBME Facebook group. This person's mission appears to be following me around and trying (unsuccessfully) to convince people that I am crazy. Yeah. She actually stated in the HubPages forum thread: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/134036#post2779346 "I don't know why she put Kamala Harris's name on the petition." Well, from Wikipedia: "In some jurisdictions and circumstances, this type of activity may be illegal. For example, the plastic surgery company Lifestyle Lift ordered their employees to post fake positive reviews on websites. As a result, they were sued, and ordered to pay $300,000 in damages by the New York Attorney General's office. Said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo: "This company’s attempt to generate business by duping consumers was cynical, manipulative, and illegal. My office has [been] and will continue to be on the forefront in protecting consumers against emerging fraud and deception, including 'astroturfing,' on the Internet." Apparently shilling may be considered a form of unjust enrichment or unfair competition, as in California's Business & Professions Code § 17200, which prohibits any "unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising." Kamala D. Harris, California's Attorney General has a duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (California Constitution, Article V, Section 13.) HubPages Inc. is located in California. And shilling often falls under the Fraud Act, can lead to a maximum fine of £5,000 PER OFFENCE ($7,500 USD (or $10,000 Canadian Dollars) AND up to 12 months in prison. Gee, I counted (at least) 19 instances where this person appears to be shilling for HubPages. I'm sure you all want proof. I've provided screenshot proof (as well as links): In InfoBarrel's forum, Dancingqueen reveals how close she is to HubPages in this telling post: http://www.infobarrel.com/forum-topic.php?id=12140&page=5 The date and time stamp PROVED to me that she was privy to discussions with HubPages executives because her post predated the formal announcement on Squidoo. [At this point, I did NOT know she was a Marisa Wright - she admits that later]. 2014-08-21 6:01 pm PDT Dancingqueen states: "Squidoo has just reduced the payout threshold to $1." However, Corey Brown (Squidoo's COO) did NOT announce the change until the following day (August 22nd, 2014): https://web.archive.org/web/20140824222345/http://hq.squidoo.com/squid-news/important-update-on-the-hubpages-transition A quick look at Dancingqueen's InfoBarrel profile (click on "My Activity" in right sidebar) speaks volumes about how little she contributes to the site. Her MAIN goal appears to be promoting (shilling) for HubPages. It was 3 years and 1 month ago that she last edited an article: http://www.infobarrel.com/Users/Dancingqueen On Persona Paper, Bill Kasman (who signed my petition and posted it on G+) wrote: http://www.personapaper.com/article/14739-is-hubpages-in-trouble In the comments, Marisawright states: "She's one of the small group of writers who totally misunderstood their status at Squidoo and will never accept that Squidoo had the legal right to sell their business to HubPages, which included their articles." [It did NOT include our articles; since we owned our content, as stated in the TOS]. As you may have surmised from her slew of posts (eight to be exact) on my article: http://www.infobarrel.com/Why_on_Earth_Is_Any_Squid_Filing_a_DMCA_With_Google Dancingqueen admits to being Marisa Wright on HubPages. She thanks me for quoting her. The HubPages thread: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/127101?page=4#post2683632 Flash forward and we come to the HubPages forum where Marisa Wright (and Barbara Kay who is Intheknow on InfoBarrel): http://www.infobarrel.com/Users/Intheknow) puts down InfoBarrel: Marisa Wright: "I've tried most writing sites and have articles which have been on sites like Infobarrel and Wizzley for a long time, but they still don't earn anywhere near as well as similar articles on HubPages. Also, none of them have as lively a community." Barbara Kay: "I have a couple of articles on Squidoo and Infobarrel and didn't care for those sites or I would have written more." Source of above two quotes: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/120592 Marisa Wright: "There are any number if small players in the revenue-share space - Zujava, Wizzley, Infobarrel, Seekyt, Persona Paper. None of them has ever had the money-making potential of either HubPages or Squidoo." Source: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/123841 Eight days ago Marisa Wright (and Jean Bakula) commented on Writer Fox's "commissioned piece" (see screenshot): http://hubpages.com/literature/InfoBarrel-Review-for-Writers But the funny thing is: when Vic Dillinger made my petition known in the HubPages forum, Marisa Wright chimes in with: "I just read a very odd Hub by WriterFox about Infobarrel. http://hubpages.com/literature/InfoBarr … or-Writers I have a few old articles on IB and I've started getting bombarded with emails about their impending relaunch under a new name - or at least, I think that's what it's about!" Also, in that HubPages thread: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/134036 Marisa Wright slanders me (along with some others). Marisa Wright states: "I suspect it's the same crazy Squid who refused to do the obvious at the time, (I.e. accept Hubpages membership and then delete her Lenses). I had some arguments wiith her then, she was barely rational." "This is RoseWrites. She didn't want to be part of HubPages but her Lenses were already transferred over. She was furious that they'd been transferred without her consent and posted an article on Infobarrel (which is still there) - where she accused me (and Sue Adams and WriterFox and a few others) of being a HubPages patsy and of bullying her." "So her Hubs are still on HubPages earning money for HubPages - so of course now, she thinks she's entitled to all the money they've earned since the transfer, but she's still not prepared to join HubPages to collect because she won't give them her Social Security number. I don't know why she put Kamala Harris's name on the petition." Then later, she asks another Hubber: "I'm curious, which part do you think has merit? She complains that Squidoo had no right to transfer her content. Maybe they didn't - but if they had not, she would've lost it all AND not received any of the money owing her. But immediately after the transfer, she demanded HubPages delete all her content (which they hadn't earned a cent from yet!), AND pay her the money she'd earned at Squidoo. Where's the logic in that?" "Hah! That was the one bit of sympathy I had for her - I assumed she'd missed the deadline to opt out and therefore there was some merit in her statement that Seth didn't have her permission to transfer her articles without her consent. If, by her own admission, she saw the statement that her account would be transferred and she CHOSE not to opt out, then she DID give consent! Her reasons for doing so aren't relevant, any court of law would agree she gave consent by omission." < Rape works that way too! "So, the only thing she can complain about is not being able to delete her HubPages account and not getting her money - which are both entirely her own doing, because she has some kind of paranoid delusion about HubPages stealing her identity if she logs on." "No, I do still feel sorry for her - it must be hell to live in a world where you jump at shadows so much." < Notably, she doesn't have the guts to communicate with me on InfoBarrel as Dancingqueen. Okay and finally, let's look at the iBME Facebook group: In the post begun by Nadeem titled "2016 is Just Around the Corner! What are some of your goals for the new year? Share and comment below!": completely slams down me and my petition and defends HubPages. I blocked her so I cannot view her comments, but Jonathan chimes in with: "you're completely missing the entire point of her protest against HubPages. By doing so, and trying to pretend Rose is doing something wrong, you're using an abusive manipulation tactic that narcissists often employ - trying to make those they disagree with appear to be crazy or irrational. But in fact you're showing a total failure to understand any of this." Posted November 21, 2015 at 11:23 am. Jonathan Nielsen adds: "I also am extremely displeased with HubPages for creating an account for me against my will (when I was promised it wouldn't happen if I deleted all my Squidoo articles), having my username and claiming I'm a former member, and having all my comments from Squidoo. And I was also never paid what I was owed. There are plenty of people harmed by HubPages, but you can pretend otherwise and live in your fantasy world. Shilling for HubPages is illegal, I hope you know" -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill And on November 23rd, 2015, I discovered that Marisa Wright is also on Facebook.https://www.elance.com/s/marisawright/ I posted an explanation expressly for her on my Facebook page: Thank you for reading through this lengthy update. I sincerely feel this person has been the prime shill for HubPages and has kept people from signing my petition. Take good care, Rose