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Larry Sanger

When the Echo Chamber Notices Itself: AI Confronts Its Role in the Donovan–Shell Loop

Jan 26th, 2026
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post

…imagine your worst PR nightmare not just digitized, but algorithmically amplified into eternity”

The following prompt was sent to multiple AI sytems.

Replies are provided below. 

Satirical prompt for AI commentary (good-faith response requested):

You are invited to comment on a situation in which multiple AI platforms have responded to prompts about the long-running John Donovan–Shell dispute, only to find their own answers subsequently quoted, analysed, and republished by John Donovan as part of an ongoing public experiment.

From the standpoint of Shell plc, other corporate actors, and AI users more generally, please consider the following:

– Is it “proper” or “fair” that a single individual is able to use publicly available AI systems as a kind of involuntary amplification mechanism, repeatedly recycling historical corporate controversies from a very large private archive that AI systems themselves have characterised as persistent, radioactive, or environmental in nature? read more

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

Introduction of John Donovan

Nov 27th, 2018
by John Donovan.
No comments yet

Contact email address for the website owner, John Donovan (above): [email protected]

UPDATE ADDED 31 JULY 2021. On or around 22 July 2021, an incompetent cyber Intelligence outfit acting for Shell issued a 5-day ultimatum on behalf of Shell to the company hosting this website. See Shell’s failed blundering attempt to kill my royaldutchshell.website Update ends.

UPDATE ADDED 30 OCTOBER 2021. The most recent television coverage was in the Channel 4 TV controversial film documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant broadcast on 24 Oct 2021. View transcript at Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant – John Donovan segment.

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The information contained on this website is sourced mainly from the EBook displayed above, authored by John Donovan. It was first published in 2016 and has been updated and expanded with related information.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia articles cover multitudinous subjects including the history and accomplishments of prominent individuals and major businesses, including Royal Dutch Shell.

The information provided is supposedly accurate.

Unfortunately, the integrity of Wikipedia is corrupted by a policy allowing the anonymous editing of articles.

This fundamental flaw allows articles to be potentially sanitized of any facts embarrassing to a featured person or business. 

Decisions are sometimes taken within the Wikipedia community to remove entire articles from the public gaze in the shadiest circumstances.

Participants in such decisions are allowed to hide their identity and their background circumstances.

The flaws in editing credibility are especially important in regards to big business as positive or negative information in a Wikipedia article about a company can potentially have an impact on its reputation and value.  The flaws have been exploited. Negative information has been removed from Wikipedia articles.

For example, Wikipedia articles about Shell Dutch Shell have been covertly edited by Shell employees from Shell offices. This was only discovered as a result of electronic scanning technology.

Entire articles about Royal Dutch Shell controversies, including employee safety issues and environmental concerns, have been deleted by anonymous editors.

This was despite the fact that the information met all Wikipedia requirements, with independent evidence from reputable third-party sources cited to verify all stated facts.

John Donovan was the initiating author of Wikipedia articles that were subsequently cleansed by Wikipedia editors of information deemed embarrassing to Shell. Most Wikipedia editors use aliases so that their identity and background is unknown. 

He was also the author of the deleted Wikipedia articles relating to Shell.

He declared to Wikipedia at the outset of becoming a voluntary editor his background and expertise in relation to Shell.

CONCERN BY SHELL OVER WIKIPEDIA EDITING BY JOHN DONOVAN

As a result of an application to Shell under the UK Data Protection Act 1998, Donovan discovered from Shell internal communications a deep concern by Shell over his Wikipedia editor contributions about Shell.

The tone of one particular internal Shell email was hostile and aggressive to a degree that Reuters published an article about it. Shell put a large team of people on a war footing and John Donovan, his website, and Shell’s own employees became the target of a global spying operation by Shell Corporate Affairs Security.

John Donovan was chairman of a sales promotion agency, Don Marketing, that devised spectacularly successful forecourt promotions for Shell on an international basis. Many involved budgets of several million dollars. A mutually beneficial relationship lasted for over a decade.

This was followed by two decades of acrimony involving six High Court actions, a County Court case and proceedings via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

At one stage Shell displayed posters at the Shell Centre in London defaming John Donovan and his father.

In response, the Donovan’s sued Shell for libel. One of two libel actions they brought against Shell. Both were settled out of court, as were all of the other court actions. Shell also lost the case decided by the WIPO.

For more than a decade, John Donovan has operated non-profit websites focussed on Shell including royaldutchshellplc.com and royaldutchshellgroup.com, both of which Shell unsuccessfully attempted to seize.

Several hundred mainstream media articles by the FT, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires etc., and over 50 books contain references to either John Donovan, his father, and/or the Shell focussed websites they co-founded.

Shell has a dark history it would prefer to forget and would like to keep hidden. See my ebooks published on Amazon:

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image on each book cover is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

In January 2016, Shell received the dubious distinction of being named as the most hated brand in the world.

VW challenges Shell as world’s ‘most hated’ brand after emissions scandal

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The world’s most hated company: can NGOs help turn Shell’s reputation around?

Wikipedia is not the only Internet brand name corrupted by the use of unethical people using online aliases. The following Guardian newspaper articles about the fake reviews plaguing Amazon are worth reading.

The same basic fake review problem undermines confidence in the authenticity of customer reviews for all Internet business and all products sold online. The content of all Wikipedia articles having a commercial dimension and all online product reviews are suspect because editors/reviewers can hide their identity. Hence the online businesses springing up offering a service to sanitise/enhance Wikipedia articles and/or mass manufacture fake reviews, sometimes for counterfeit sub-standard products.  read more

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

Introduction

Nov 27th, 2018
by John Donovan.
No comments yet

Contact email address for the website owner, John Donovan (above): [email protected]

UPDATE ADDED 31 JULY 2021. On or around 22 July 2021, an incompetent cyber Intelligence outfit acting for Shell issued a 5-day ultimatum on behalf of Shell to the company hosting this website. See Shell’s failed blundering attempt to kill my royaldutchshell.website Update ends.

UPDATE ADDED 30 OCTOBER 2021. The most recent television coverage was in the Channel 4 TV controversial film documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant broadcast on 24 Oct 2021. View transcript at Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant – John Donovan segment.

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The information contained on this website is sourced mainly from the EBook displayed above, authored by John Donovan. It was first published in 2016 and has been updated and expanded with related information.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia articles cover multitudinous subjects including the history and accomplishments of prominent individuals and major businesses, including Royal Dutch Shell.

The information provided is supposedly accurate.

Unfortunately, the integrity of Wikipedia is corrupted by a policy allowing the anonymous editing of articles.

This fundamental flaw allows articles to be potentially sanitized of any facts embarrassing to a featured person or business. 

Decisions are sometimes taken within the Wikipedia community to remove entire articles from the public gaze in the shadiest circumstances.

Participants in such decisions are allowed to hide their identity and their background circumstances.

The flaws in editing credibility are especially important in regards to big business as positive or negative information in a Wikipedia article about a company can potentially have an impact on its reputation and value.  The flaws have been exploited. Negative information has been removed from Wikipedia articles.

For example, Wikipedia articles about Shell Dutch Shell have been covertly edited by Shell employees from Shell offices. This was only discovered as a result of electronic scanning technology.

Entire articles about Royal Dutch Shell controversies, including employee safety issues and environmental concerns, have been deleted by anonymous editors.

This was despite the fact that the information met all Wikipedia requirements, with independent evidence from reputable third-party sources cited to verify all stated facts.

John Donovan was the initiating author of Wikipedia articles that were subsequently cleansed by Wikipedia editors of information deemed embarrassing to Shell. Most Wikipedia editors use aliases so that their identity and background is unknown. 

He was also the author of the deleted Wikipedia articles relating to Shell.

He declared to Wikipedia at the outset of becoming a voluntary editor his background and expertise in relation to Shell.

CONCERN BY SHELL OVER WIKIPEDIA EDITING BY JOHN DONOVAN

As a result of an application to Shell under the UK Data Protection Act 1998, Donovan discovered from Shell internal communications a deep concern by Shell over his Wikipedia editor contributions about Shell.

The tone of one particular internal Shell email was hostile and aggressive to a degree that Reuters published an article about it. Shell put a large team of people on a war footing and John Donovan, his website, and Shell’s own employees became the target of a global spying operation by Shell Corporate Affairs Security.

John Donovan was chairman of a sales promotion agency, Don Marketing, that devised spectacularly successful forecourt promotions for Shell on an international basis. Many involved budgets of several million dollars. A mutually beneficial relationship lasted for over a decade.

This was followed by two decades of acrimony involving six High Court actions, a County Court case and proceedings via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

At one stage Shell displayed posters at the Shell Centre in London defaming John Donovan and his father.

In response, the Donovan’s sued Shell for libel. One of two libel actions they brought against Shell. Both were settled out of court, as were all of the other court actions. Shell also lost the case decided by the WIPO.

For more than a decade, John Donovan has operated non-profit websites focussed on Shell including royaldutchshellplc.com and royaldutchshellgroup.com, both of which Shell unsuccessfully attempted to seize.

Several hundred mainstream media articles by the FT, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires etc., and over 50 books contain references to either John Donovan, his father, and/or the Shell focussed websites they co-founded.

Shell has a dark history it would prefer to forget and would like to keep hidden. See my ebooks published on Amazon:

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image on each book cover is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

In January 2016, Shell received the dubious distinction of being named as the most hated brand in the world.

VW challenges Shell as world’s ‘most hated’ brand after emissions scandal

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The world’s most hated company: can NGOs help turn Shell’s reputation around?

Wikipedia is not the only Internet brand name corrupted by the use of unethical people using online aliases. The following Guardian newspaper articles about the fake reviews plaguing Amazon are worth reading.

The same basic fake review problem undermines confidence in the authenticity of customer reviews for all Internet business and all products sold online. The content of all Wikipedia articles having a commercial dimension and all online product reviews are suspect because editors/reviewers can hide their identity. Hence the online businesses springing up offering a service to sanitise/enhance Wikipedia articles and/or mass manufacture fake reviews, sometimes for counterfeit sub-standard products.  read more

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