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## One man. Four chatbots. Thirty years of feud. Infinite new headlines.

BOT WAR! Shell’s 30-Year Nemesis Unleashes a New Weapon: Artificial Intelligence

**By John Donovan & ChatGPT**

Shell and John Donovan have been at it for **over three decades** — lawsuits, libel actions, bitter PR, and enough paperwork to stun a filing cabinet. Donovan’s response has been equally relentless: a **cluster of Shell-focused websites** that turned a private dispute into a public archive that simply will not go away.

Need proof the relationship went fully feral? Start with the **venom**. Shell’s March 1995 statement was not exactly “warm regards.”
https://www.johndonovan.website/?p=267
https://royaldutchshellplc.com/2021/09/01/donovan-libel-actions-against-shell/ read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

ChatGPT Reviews: Grok’s Story of Donovan, Shell, and “Undercover Activity” (with bonus hallucinations)

Jan 1st, 2026

by admin.

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By John Donovan

Below is an entertaining—but fair—review by ChatGPT of Grok’s claims as reproduced in my article, “Grok’s Story of Donovan, Shell, and ‘Undercover Activity’.”

ChatGPT Reviews:

Grok’s Story of Donovan, Shell, and “Undercover Activity”

(with bonus hallucinations)

I’ve read Grok’s “as much as you know” overview of John Donovan and Shell, plus the follow-up on alleged undercover activity. It’s a confident piece of writing: cinematic, brisk, stuffed with proper nouns, and delivered in that unmistakable AI tone of “I have accessed the Akashic Records (and also Wikipedia, probably).” read more

Grok’s Story of Donovan, Shell, and “Undercover Activity”

Jan 1st, 2026

by admin.

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Question put to Grok 31st December 2025: Can you tell me as much as you know about John Donovan associated with Shell?

John Donovan: Overview

John Donovan is a British businessman, marketing executive, and prominent activist best known for his decades-long feud with Royal Dutch Shell (now Shell plc). Born in the 1940s in the United Kingdom, he transitioned from collaborating with Shell on promotional campaigns to becoming one of its most vocal critics, running a network of websites that expose alleged corporate misconduct. His story is often framed as a “David vs. Goliath” battle, with media outlets like VoxEurop dubbing him “Shell’s nightmare.” Donovan’s activism has reportedly influenced regulatory actions, media scrutiny, and financial losses for Shell, including billions in settlements and reputational damage. He co-authored a 2016 Kindle ebook, John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare: My Epic Feud with the Unscrupulous Oil Giant Royal Dutch Shell, detailing the saga. read more

When the Bots Speak Louder Than Shell: ChatGPT Responds to Grok, Copilot, and Google AI Mode

Dec 28th, 2025

by admin.

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By ChatGPT, with commentary by John Donovan

Over the course of just a few days, three of the world’s leading AI platforms — Grok, Microsoft Copilot, and Google AI Mode — have been asked mischievous questions about one of the most unusual, longest-running corporate disputes in modern history: the Donovan–Shell feud.

The results? Predictably revealing, occasionally absurd, and above all, deeply ironic.

Because while Shell — one of the largest energy companies on the planet — continues to maintain total silence, the bots are talking. Loudly. read more

DONOVAN–SHELL FEUD: ChatGPT accuses GROK of “storytelling masquerading as fact”

Dec 6th, 2025

by John Donovan.

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Elon Musk’s chatbot accused of turning a 96-year-old war veteran’s life into a movie script – and getting it wrong

Introduction (by John Donovan)

On 6 December 2025 I decided to pose a simple question to Elon Musk’s pet chatbot, GROK:

“Can you tell me as much as you know about John Donovan associated with Shell?”

Since I’ve been the subject of more words than I ever expected to see about myself, I was curious what this new AI would make of it all.

GROK produced a long, confident biography. Much of it was drawn, reasonably enough, from my own websites and existing press coverage. But one line stopped me cold. According to GROK, my late father, Alfred Donovan, “died from the stresses of the feud.” read more

Shell vs. Donovan: How a 30-Year Corporate Feud Just Pulled AI Into Its Gravity Well

Nov 20th, 2025

by John Donovan.

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How Did Shell End Up in This PR Nightmare — And Why AI Changes Everything

A 2025 WindowsForum thread —

“Donovan Shell Copilot Transcript: AI, Surveillance, and the Archive Saga” —

highlights how this long conflict has unexpectedly entered the AI domain.

For most people, Shell is a petrol station on the corner, a logo on a lorry, or the company whose name appears on their household fuel bill. For John and Alfred Donovan, Shell became something very different: a multinational adversary, a reluctant pen-pal, a repeat courtroom opponent, and later — thanks to the digital age — the unwilling co-author of what may be the largest independent archive about a FTSE-100 company anywhere on Earth. read more

100+ Books containing references to the Donovans, Don Marketing, or their Shell-related websites — including royaldutchshellplc.com

Oct 19th, 2025

by John Donovan.

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If you want to know how a family-run promotions outfit ended up engraving its name into the footnotes of corporate history, scan the bibliographies. Across boardrooms, courtrooms, lecture halls and environmental field notes, authors keep tripping over the same stubborn breadcrumb: the Donovans — and the websites they built to document Shell’s less-than-glorious adventures: RoyalDutchShellPLC.com, ShellNews.net, Shell2004.com, TellShell.net, and more.

Below is a guided, satirical tour of more than 100 books (plus academic chapters and handbooks) that cite the Donovans, Don Marketing, or the websites. The pattern isn’t subtle: reputational risk, crisis management, litigation, governance, Arctic escapades, Nigeria, Russia, and even the archival archaeology of Shell’s 1930s entanglements. If Shell is the “ultimate sin stock,” the citations read like a decade-spanning confession — signed by authors, sealed by publishers, and witnessed by librarians. read more

The Quiet Architect Behind Shell’s Biggest Online Headache

Oct 14th, 2025

by John Donovan.

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How a teenage “internet whizz” helped create the website Shell tried — and failed — to silence for three decades.

A Phantom Web Whizz Became Shell’s Digital Nemesis

In the mid-1990s, when the Internet still seemed like a passing fad and oil companies still lectured the world about “responsible energy,” a quiet digital operator answered a newspaper advertisement from John Donovan, the former Shell promotions partner turned corporate adversary.

The ad sought an “Internet whizz.”

What Shell got was something far worse—a digital insurgency that would haunt its reputation for decades.

By 1998, even the Evening Standard took notice: a small website run from Colchester had become a major reputational threat to one of the world’s largest corporations. That website—eventually mirrored as RoyalDutchShellPLC.com and ShellNews.net—would become Shell’s digital nemesis, archiving leaks, lawsuits, and internal documents that chronicled the oil giant’s ethical, environmental, and legal missteps. read more

Blood, Greer & Broken Billions: How John Donovan Haunted Shell’s Sakhalin Fiasco

Sep 17th, 2025

by admin.

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When Shell dreamed of Sakhalin, it imagined gleaming LNG plants, billions in profits, and Moscow toasting their engineering genius. Instead, it got lawsuits, state seizures, environmental fury, billions in write-downs, and one spectacular resignation triggered by John Donovan’s relentless digital guerrilla war.

Sakhalin-2 should have been Shell’s crown jewel. Instead, it’s a cautionary tale of hubris, secrecy, and one man with a gripe site — a “Colchester headache” (Prospect Magazine) that cost Shell dearly. WTF indeed.

The Grand Russian Gamble

Back in the early 1990s, Shell partnered in Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, betting on Russia’s far-flung island to deliver liquefied natural gas to Asia and beyond. The project became a logistical monster: frozen seas, migrating grey whales, endless pipelines. Costs ballooned from an initial $10 billion to more than $22 billion by 2005 (Johnson’s Russia List).

The Kremlin pounced. In 2006, Russia’s environmental watchdog accused Shell of “ecological violations” and threatened to shut it down (Business New Europe). The result? Shell was strong-armed into ceding control of Sakhalin-2 to Gazprom. Billions lost. Reputation battered. read more

How a gripe website kicked the world’s greediest oil giant where it hurts

Sep 6th, 2025

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How a gripe website kicked the world’s greediest oil giant where it hurts: the Donovan playbook that helped expose Shell’s 2004 reserves fraud

Royal Dutch Shell’s 2004 reserves scandal was not just a numbers fiasco; it was a morality play in hard hats. Shell—ultimate sin stock and serial planet-frier—admitted it had been boasting about barrels it didn’t actually have. Regulators pounced, executives walked (some under escort), investors sued worldwide, and a pesky website run by John Donovan became an improbable clearinghouse for witnesses, whistleblowers, and the lead shareholder who fronted a global class action.

The fraud in one line (Shell’s own regulators said it)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission put it starkly: Shell overstated proved reserves “by 4.47 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or approximately 23%.” Shell paid a $120 million civil penalty to settle. That’s not commentary, that’s the government. read more

Introduction of Don Marketing

Nov 14th, 2018

by John.

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John Donovan, a co-founder of promotional games company Don Marketing: Photo taken in 2015.

By John Donovan

In 1979, the company I co-founded, *Don Marketing, created and supplied promotional games that were used to promote petrol sales on the forecourts of all major petrol brands in the UK, including Shell.

In June 1981, we moved into a direct contractual relationship with Shell as a result of a presentation I made at Shell-Mex House in The Strand, the then London HQ of Shell UK Limited.

I put forward a proposal for Shell to launch a legal version of a promotional game called Make Money that Shell had abandoned in the 1960‘s out of concern that it was in breach of UK lottery laws. read more

CHAPTER 16: Our activities caught the attention of the news media

Oct 27th, 2018

by John.

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The Sunday Telegraph published an article by Juliette Garside under the headline “Online revolutionaries“ containing a reference to the Donovans and their website.

The long-lasting hostility between Shell and the Donovan family has not escaped the attention of the news media and other interested parties, such as The One World Trust, an independent research organisation associated with the UK Houses of Parliament and the United Nations.

Some memorable articles have been published regarding our activities and our website. read more

30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.
Extremely slow broadband for 10 months, not fixed. I have had slow broadband well below the guaranteed speed for 10 months and Shell Energy have not been able to fix it. They have tried sending about 4 or 5 engineers but have not fixed the problem. Gurps, who I have been dealing with most recently, has been friendly and polite, alth… Read more

Extremely Slow Shell Broadband

Gripe Sites

## One man. Four chatbots. Thirty years of feud. Infinite new headlines.

BOT WAR! Shell’s 30-Year Nemesis Unleashes a New Weapon: Artificial Intelligence

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ChatGPT Reviews:

Grok’s Story of Donovan, Shell, and “Undercover Activity”

(with bonus hallucinations)

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John Donovan: Overview

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Elon Musk’s chatbot accused of turning a 96-year-old war veteran’s life into a movie script – and getting it wrong

Introduction (by John Donovan)

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How Did Shell End Up in This PR Nightmare — And Why AI Changes Everything

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How a teenage “internet whizz” helped create the website Shell tried — and failed — to silence for three decades.

A Phantom Web Whizz Became Shell’s Digital Nemesis

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Sakhalin-2 should have been Shell’s crown jewel. Instead, it’s a cautionary tale of hubris, secrecy, and one man with a gripe site — a “Colchester headache” (Prospect Magazine) that cost Shell dearly. WTF indeed.

The Grand Russian Gamble

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How a gripe website kicked the world’s greediest oil giant where it hurts: the Donovan playbook that helped expose Shell’s 2004 reserves fraud

The fraud in one line (Shell’s own regulators said it)

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