Google ads for mills at CollegeHints.com

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by [email protected], Jan 4, 2004.

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  1. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    http://www.collegehints.com now features "Ads by Google", and many of the ads are for mills. A sample:

    AA, BA, MA, MBA, PhD
    100% legal, life experience degrees
    No coursework, graduate in 10 days
    (URL removed by moderator)

    No Coursework Degrees
    Legal, registered and verifiable
    BA MA and PHD. Transcripts available.
    (URL removed by moderator)

    Distance Learning Degrees
    Enroll in Bachelor, Master or Ph.D.
    Credit for Work & Life Experience
    (URL removed by moderator)

    College Degree in 30-days
    Accredited University Degree
    HS, Bachelor, Master & PhD Programs
    (URL removed by moderator)

    MBA online in 6 months
    (URL removed by moderator)

    Life Experience Degree
    Govt Accredited Earn a Degree based on what you already know
    Apply now!
    (URL removed by moderator)

    Life Experience Degree
    Earn a diploma from home in 8 days. College degree based on life work.
    - or -
    College Degrees Now
    Earn your college degree in 8 days based on what you already know.
    (URL removed by moderator)

    Life Experience Degrees
    Degrees based on work and life experience. Accredited university.
    - or -
    Fast PhD degrees
    Credit for work & life experience. Receive your degree in a week.
    - or -
    Fast college degrees.
    Recieve your degree overnight. Credit for work & life experience.
    (URL removed by moderator)

    I also saw (but couldn't re-produce) ads for Suffield University and Breyer State University. Interestingly, Google's own search engine does not seems to index the repository for these ads.
     
  2. George Brown

    George Brown Active Member

    It is a sad state of affairs, but there seems little can be done. I do recall Kirstin Hurst complaining of fake degree ads popping up on her site, and they were pulled, however I do know they are back up all over the place.

    Cheers,

    George
     
  3. roysavia

    roysavia New Member

    Well no surprise. I had an ad pop up for St. Regis while looking at the BA in 4 weeks site.
     
  4. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    At https://www.google.com/adsense/overview, it says: "Across the Google network, ads do not run on publisher sites until they have been reviewed and approved by Google's editorial team. We classify each AdWords ad as Family-Safe, Non-Family-Safe or Adult/Explicit."

    If you click on "Ads by Google" at http://www.collegehints.com, it says: "Google would like to know what you think of these ads. Please provide your feedback by filling out this form".
     
  5. Jeff Hampton

    Jeff Hampton New Member

    Gambling in Casablanca? I'm shocked!
     
  6. Guest

    Guest Guest

    While you were looking at the St. Regis site, an ad for BA in 4 Weeks popped up?
     
  7. fnhayes

    fnhayes New Member

    Whilst the 'degree/diploma mill' ads on the CollegeHints site are a real pain, the numbers of such ads are in fact quite small compared to the ads from more respectable schools.
    There was even one from a highly respected New Zealand polytechnic featuring the other day.
    Dr Anatidae (Knightsbridge)
     
  8. Jeff Hampton

    Jeff Hampton New Member

    And by "more respectable schools" do you mean schools like Knightsbridge, Trinity C&U, and Kennedy-Western?
     
  9. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    The presence of advertisements from legitimate, recognized schools doesn't change the presences of advertisements from diploma mills. It only serves to diminish the image of the legitimate schools, and of the board, which is populated by posters employing even deeper rationalizations the the one above.
     
  10. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Here are the ads for Suffield and Breyer State:

    Suffield University
    Earn a Degree based on your Life & Work Experience. Under $495
    (URL removed by moderator)


    Online Degrees, Courses
    Online Degrees, Certificates, Life Credits, and Open enrollment at BSU
    (URL removed by moderator)
     
  11. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    life experience degree
    Earn college degree at home No residency. Entirely online.
    (URL removed by moderator)
     
  12. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Distance Learning
    Accredited Bach/MS/Doc Distance Deg
    Credit for Work/Life Experience
    (URL removed by moderator)
    [Lacrosse University]
     
  13. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    Mark:

    Could you explain what purpose does it serve (aside from giving these entities additional free publicity) to repeat the ad tag lines and post the links to the Web sites?
     
  14. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    If a website runs ads, I don't think they have a choice as to which ones they carry. In all liklihood no ads = no website.
     
  15. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    To Gus: I think URLs are useful because they're often a springboard for further research as people do whois searches, find IP and textual relationships between different mills, etc.

    Recording the ad text is useful because mills often change their story. If someone should try to claim down the road that, say, Almeda College is not a mill, we have good proof above.

    "Free publicity"? Well, we're trying to educate DegreeInfo members to the point where they realize that (even if they had no morals) they'd be better off printing their own diplomas than patronizing one of these mills.

    If I'm doing something wrong, I'm sure Dr Bear or the moderators will let me know.

    To Dennis: That's not what the CollegeHints people think. See Glen's thread "Help Us Clean Up The Google Ads": http://www.collegehints.com/boards/showthread.php?t=567
     
  16. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    The URLs you are posting might perhaps be useful if they are unbeknownst to those involved in serious research. They are not.

    If you are concerned with the changing stories of degree mills, make a copy of the Web site or ad. Your repeating of the information lacks the utility you claim because it can simply be denied, and become a simple case of your word against theirs. In the meantime, there is no need to repeat their advertisements here, especially since your posts are devoid of any elucidating commentary or opinion.

    Once again, the fact that you posted it on this forum does not constitute proof of anything.

    How, specifically, does your merely echoing the mill’s marketing campaign, without any commentary whatsoever, accomplish this task?

    Dr. Bear is entitled to his own opinion, and the moderators may, or may not, consider your posts to be in violation of the TOS of this forum. I am informing you of my opinion that what you are doing is wrong, and clearly explaining why. Although I am fairly certain that this is not your intention, your actions are tantamount to shilling for these mills.
     
  17. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Gus Sainz writes:

    > The URLs you are posting might perhaps be useful if they
    > are unbeknownst to those involved in serious research. They
    > are not.


    Sorry, I'm a bit befuddled here. Are you saying that you are "involved in serious research" but I am not? How can I tell whether a particular URL is "beknownst to those involved in serious research"? Is there a database I can check?
     
  18. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    As a general rule, we've always promoted discussion about fraudulent/less-than-wonderful/questionable schools, but have tried to do so without inadvertently providing additional publicity/promotion for said programs.

    That's why we've always removed the phone numbers from the "prestigious unaccredited schools" spams that people have posted here. With that in mind, I've also removed the URLs for all the Google adwords ads reproduced here.

    Anyone genuinely interested in finding a fraudulent program can go over to CollegeHints, which has shown itself to have no interest in the integrity of itself or the schools it promotes, and find a fraud that meets his or her needs.

    I've had several email conversations with Glen, he knows damn well what the deal is with K-W, and he basically is more interested in money than in having any personal integrity. I'm actually a little surprised that CollegeHints isn't yet promoting a couple of the other fraudulent or unwonderful programs that have affiliate programs... their affiliate salespeople contacted us and were, of course, immediately rejected... but they probably don't know about CollegeHints yet :)

    Oh... and one other thing: Any site that runs Google Syndication ads can choose to accept or reject the ads that appear on that site. It can be defaulted to not allow ads that haven't been specifically approved. So the ads running on CollegeHints are running with Glen's blessing, and are just another way for him to put cash in his pocket at the expense and risk of the people viewing his site.

    In taking the high road, DegreeInfo has turned down a lot of revenue from unwonderfuls, as well as some pretty lucrative offers from regionally accredited programs that we've received too many complaints about to feel comfortable promoting. As long as the current owner/founders are involved, that will continue to be the case.
     
  19. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    No, I didn’t say or imply that at all. What I am saying is that those involved in serious research, or those who "do whois searches, find IP and textual relationships between different mills, etc.” probably have no need for active links (not just names or URLs) to these entities to be posted on this forum. Moreover, are you characterizing simply repeating a mill’s marketing campaign and providing active links to thier Web sites as “serious research?” If you think that whois searches, and IP and textual relationships between the different mills in your ad campaign posts are important and relevant, why don’t you conduct the research yourself and post the findings?

    Yes, there are several. That you even have to ask this question makes one have to deliberate further before answering your previous question concerning the seriousness of your research. C’mon, Mark, are you really so condescending as to imply that those who, for years, have been following and conducting serious research on the activities of degree mills and their owners are unaware of Suffield, Breyer State, TCU and Lacrosse, and that you are making them aware of these entities for the first time? Wow!

    You seem to have a penchant, Mark, for resurrecting old threads or conducting searches of DegreeInfo archives or AED when you want to deride other members of this forum or poke miniscule holes in their arguments. If it isn’t all that much trouble to do so under those circumstances, why don’t you take the trouble to do so before posting a message which is devoid of any true research, opinion, elucidation, or even commentary concerning its relevancy, and really does nothing more than provide degree mills with free publicity (by echoing their ad campaign) and easy access to their commercial Web sites (by posting active links)?

    My point is that simply commenting that “degree mill XYZ continues to advertise on forum ABC” is sufficient. Anyone interested (and they don’t even have to be all that serious about their research) should have no trouble locating the URLs and Web sites. Moreover, I noticed you didn’t answer my question. How, specifically, does your merely echoing the mill’s marketing campaign (without any commentary whatsoever) and providing active links to their Web sites educates “DegreeInfo members to the point where they realize that (even if they had no morals) they'd be better off printing their own diplomas than patronizing one of these mills?” I’m curious.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2004
  20. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    My opinion is that you should accept truthful ads from any RA or DETC accredited schools.
     

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