Basically the post at Dan's site claims there are 2 classes of dolls. They're called Actives, and Inactives. According to the post Echo is considered an inactive. It doesn't say why.
There's supposed to be a scene in the pilot where Adelle Dewitt, "The 40ish iceberg who runs the Dollhouse where the human Etch-a-Sketches reside", explains to a senator a Doll is better than an escort, because the experience will be real to the Doll. They program the fantasy into the Doll so he, or she wants it as much as the customer does.
Topher Brink, "The technogeek who enjoys his job as a Doll programmer maybe a little too much" calls Boyd Langton, "Echo's handler and father figure" to report a group of the dolls sat together at lunch. This apparently is a problem. It suggests one of them might be what they call an inititiator. An initiator is supposed to be someone like Echo who is becoming self aware. The mind wipes the dolls endure are fading in her case. They express concern. If Adelle finds out, Echo will be killed.
Topher is pure geek, and only cares about the programming of the Dolls. Boyd appears to be pro-programming. It's supposed to have something to do with his believe in the superior experience of implanting emotions.
I guess by the end we're pretty impressed by Echo's special situation.