1) They are part of you testing group which implies that you have off-forum conversations with them (mail, messenger and so on).
2) They used your forum to coordinate this kind of operation.
In fact in that thread Goral is spewing confidential information like this:
How the fuck does he know that the game is not selling too well?
3) You were part of this operation - with intention or without intention.
He down-voted all the negative reviews regardless of the fact that they made sense or not. And you thanked him.
Nice attitude dude. You basically gave the order to these morons: "Negative reviews are fair game!".
In conclusion: the assumption that you have a close relationship with them is not far fetched and the assumption that they are shills is solid. They are idiots for not getting paid but that's not my problem.
And you can bet I have a problem with this shit for the following reasons:
1) They shilled hard in the "The Age of Incline: RPG Codex's 2012-2016 GOTY Results" thread.
There are clues that vote manipulation took place and AoD was one of the games that profited the most.
2) These are toxic posters which deform, derail and destroy any kind of criticism for AoD.
The perverse thing is that they are covering their backs therefore it's hard to drag them in the open.
3) There is no comparison with Underrail in this department.
Nobody from the Underrail sub-forum was engaged in this kind of bullshit.
You should put a leash on your rabid dogs.