Angela, I'll repeat my post in another part of the thread. I said it was like a reserve in important ways, I never said it was like a reserve in all respects.

Here is my post (from another part of the thread):

Yes, If I wanted it badly enough, I'd bid on an item knowing the seller used shill bidders, just like I would if there was a reserve. Frankly, I don't like shill auctions, and I don't like reserve auctions. If I see it is a reserve auction, I usually don't bother with the auction, unless it is a piece I sorely want!

The first thing I said in my post in the thread here was: Like everyone else on the thread, I am against shill bids..

I also said:
My approach is:
(1) don't worry about shills
(2) place my eSnipe bid the moment I see the auction.
(3) forget or ignore it from that point on, and wait for the end of the auction.

Finally, again -- I don't think there are pro-shill supporters on this thread. I think it was obvious that shill bidding is bad, and many posters felt it unnecessary to beat the issue to death from that perspective.... ........ so, they looked at it from a more interesting and overlooked aspect: making the best of a bad situation.

Robert