I'm not certain they're all shills, but mental illness is real. Take edwinbarnesc's latest post on formerly-Twitter/X (any of his recent posts, actually): https://nitter.net/edwinbarnesc/status/1748202509964120259#m - I've appreciated some of Edwin's stuff from 12+ months ago, but someone needs to do an IRL health check. We joke about aluminum foil, but schizophrenia is real and I bet Edwin's windows are covered in it. And of course these people spam their nonsense on formerly-Twitter/X (where these types congregate now), and dummies or users with ill-intent re-post on Reddit with headlines like "OMG LeadPaintChips_2 HAS FIGURED IT OUT".
What I think has happened is the sane, rational people have left the room to "touch grass" while waiting for actual developments, and the only ones who remain are the crazy people, or previously sane people who have gone crazy while staring at tea leaves. Its an embarrassing look for the community, for sure.
Also I'm pretty sure a lot of these individuals, such as Edwin, don't have jobs or lives of any sort - based on the volume & intensity of their of posts. I think we can deduce that disability, probably with a mental element, is to blame. Or they're being bankrolled by SHF to frame the community in a negative light. Maybe both.