Threat of the week from exploded time-bomb holder Rose Donatelli Venneri

Well, well.

I guess it's been a little while since we've been threatened with a lawsuit, so we were due for another one. This one is even more laughable than normal, since there's nothing remotely actionable in the thread being referenced.

As we do in all cases when we are threatened, here's the original email from Rose:



Dear Mr. White,

I am Rose Donatelli Venneri. It is my understanding that you are responsible for an internet site which involves me.

I am respectfully requesting that you remove this site from the internet.

I trust that this will meet with your approval in order that any legal actions can be avoided.

Thank you,
Rose




And here's my first response:



Rose,

You provided no information at all that would offer any clue as to what you're referring to. However, I made the wild guess that one of the contributors on Degreeinfo had made some reference, so I did a search. I found your post on the Degreeinfo discussion forum.

The DegreeInfo forum is dedicated to discussion of distance learning programs, real and fraudulent, and the representations of individuals with questionable or fraudulent credentials. It is a public forum; we do not provide any advance moderation of information posted there, and as such, our only obligation is to remove information that is clearly libelous, false, defamatory, or in violation of copyright restrictions.

The references to you do not fall in this category, because the post in question merely restates factual information reported by the St. Catherine's Standard, and offers analysis.

As such, it is not appropriate for us to remove it.

And the request to remove the entire site from the Internet based on one post is ludicrous.

Therefore, since the post does not violate our terms of service, is not libelous or defamatory, and does not violate copyright, we will not be taking the requested actions.

Thank you for contacting us.

Regards,

Chip
Degreeinfo.com LLC




And here's her latest, more ominous response:




Mr. White:

I received your reply. I will provide you one more opportunity to remove any information about me from your web site.

I suggest that you contact a lawyer who could provide you additional information about what you can and cannot include in your site.

I would strongly advise you to contact a lawyer to get some legal advice about the consequences of what may happen if you do not remove my information from your site. It will be well worth the cost. This I can assure you.

I trust that you will govern yourself accordingly.

Rose




And here's my snotty reply (though I can't hold a candle to Steve Levicoff in this department...)



Rose,

I tried to be polite the first time, but you obviously don't get it.

DegreeInfo gets threats such as yours all the time, probably once a week or so. Most of the people threatening us are at least a little more educated about what they're threatening than you are. Some even hire attorneys to threaten us.

If there is any information on our site which is factually incorrect information that has been reported, please advise us exactly what is factually incorrect, and if we are able to verify that the information directly posted on our site by one of our members is, in fact, wrong, then we will correct it immediately.

We're well aware of the law surrounding public discussion, commentary, and opinion, all of which are protected speech, as well as our obligations in factual reporting, rereporting, or republication of what other news organizations have reported. (Truth is an affirmative defense to libel and defamation.) In addition to the two attorneys who regularly consult for us on matters such as this, we have among our 4500 members quite a number of attorneys and other legal professionals, including the attorneys general of a number of states and provinces, and many of them have offered to help us out at any point when we have an issue such as someone stupid enough to try to go after us for a nonexistent defamation or libel claim. I would suggest that it's you that needs to contact an attorney who can provide you additional information about what we can and cannot include in our site.

I will also tell you this: every single time someone has threatened us, our response is the same: We publish on our site every communication from the person. This, in turn, tends to cause our various members, many of whom make a hobby of exposing people with fraudulent credentials, to spring into action, which invariably results in substantially more visibility and publicity than would have resulted if the person or entity had simply left well enough alone. And were we to ever actually be sued, our first response would be to spend a couple hundred bucks to do a major press release to the news media, bringing further visibility to our site, increasing our credibility among the community of professional educators and law enforcement, and, of course, having the boomerang effect of providing much greater publicity about the alleged fraudulent school/degree holder/whatever than would ever have happened had s/he left well enough alone.

If you want to see a great example, do a search on the Monterey Institute for Graduate Studies on our site if you wish. These folks were stupid enough to actually hire an attorney to sue a member of our site who made very blatant claims that the school was a fraud. The result was the school became an absolute laughingstock throughout the higher education field as more facts came out about the situation, and in the end, they were fined $250,000 by the State of Texas as a result of their fraudulent representations. This had the effect of putting the school out of business, and, of course, their dropping the lawsuit and disappearing.

So... I'd suggest that perhaps you should just leave well enough alone. If you do, the thread you're complaining about will eventually fall out of regular view, and that will be that. If you continue to pursue it, all you'll do is bring more attention to yourself and your situation, turn a tiny, nonexistent issue into one that and, unless the information reported in the St. Catherine's Standard was factually incorrect, I'd say that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Oh... and we're an LLC. Ask your nonexistent attorney about the difficulty of prevailing in a libel or defamation action in the first place, and the likelihood of collecting from an LLC that has hardly any assets to begin with.

Perhaps a better approach would be to use our DegreeFinder database and search for a properly accredited school that offers the degree programs you're interested in, enroll in such a program, and start earning a legitimate degree. We'll be happy to help you if you decide to pursue this route; in fact, I'd personally be willing to provide individual consulting without cost to help you make a wise choice.

I think I can speak on behalf of all of the DegreeInfo staff and moderation team, as well as most of our regular posters, in saying that I'm truly sorry that you're having problems as a result of the educational choices you made. But the wise people simply accept when they've made the mistake and move on. Many of our regulars are folks that inadvertently got taken in by a phony school, then went on to earn a real degree. These are often some of our staunchest supporters and contributors. Perhaps you can give some thought to it and consider making that choice -- the right choice -- for yourself.

Regards,

Chip
DegreeInfo.com LLC




Of course, if anyone has any additional tidbits that might be interesting additional fodder about the situation, please feel free to post away...

 

Please, pardon my ignorance, but

who is this Rose Donatelli Venneri person, and why should I care?

 

Re: Please, pardon my ignorance, but

Did someone suggest that you should?

 

OH!!!! NOW I SEE!!!!!

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2620&highlight=Rose+Donatelli+Venneri

AND

Direct link:
http://www.scstandard.com/news/011010/5328017.html

 

Re: Re: Please, pardon my ignorance, but

Well, no, BUT I really enjoy this forum, and, well, I really, really care about almost every post!



PS Life can be fun, if you let it.......

and, I think someone encouraged me to let it!

 

Chip - Having read your posts over a number of years I'm not sure you're capable of a really "snotty" posting. Steve touches on "snotty" but when I read Steve's postings (in this subject area) I am reminded of the old scenario where a drunken bar patron threatens the martial artist bouncer. The final result is inevitable, the only question is, how much pain will the bouncer inflict? In your case, I'm reminded more of the scene in "The Magnificent Seven" where we are introduced to the character played by James Coburn. Keep it up.
Jack

 

It is interesting that a Google search still shows this forum as the only place "Rose Donatelli Venneri" has been identified on the web.

Maybe everyone else folded up the tents and ran from her, since they were likely "directed to govern themselves accordingly".

Oh, and get rid of anything I've posted here, regardless of how you have to do it. "It will be well worth the cost. This I can assure you".

Aaack! Wait. Don't! I still need questions answered!

Sean

 

Hi!

I never would have caught this controversy had it not being resurrected once again! I wasn't able to get the St. Catherine's article from the posted Website so if someone dares to post an abstract from that article I would appreciate it.

As for the storyline it seems to me that this board is stating the obvious and simply publishing factual information. I'm certain she would like to get her name off the Google board as it is embarrassing to see the news "she" has created becoming immortalized in Internet print.

Anyway, thanks for posting it so DL students like myself can review our goals and considerations when choosing a school and the ramification that flows from that choice.

MP8

 

I think you were actually pretty polite, considering the circumstances. Well done.


Cheers,

 

Looks like she's going to have to sue the Internet Wayback Machine, too. They've got a cached image of the story here.

 

You get'em Chip. I thought your responses were well done.

John

 

What a great response. Nice job.

 

I had completely forgotten about Ms. Denneri until she decided to resurrect the subject.

It always amuses me when people start talking about attorneys. If she actually had one that was stupid enough to take on a case like this (Enrique?), it would have been the attorney writing the threatening letters, not Ms. Denneri herself.

I thought your responses were great, Chip. The only thing I would have added was a Levicoff-like invitation to file a lawsuit.

 

Stand your ground, unless there is a post-mortem on the original story I see nothing wrong about commenting on a well circulated news article.

Sour grapes.

 

Thanks, dcv

Thanks, dcv, for the link. I am glad I finally got to read that story. I wonder what the resolution to these charges were? My own search of the wayback machine was fruitless on any resolutions.

Chip, do the envelopes containing her threatening letters have a penetentiary postmark? Do the e-mails come from a prison domain?

It's funny and sad (fad?), but now all the people on this forum (many thousands?) who knew nothing of her have access to this *delicious scandal* . Tragic for her that she couldn't just go away.

 

Chip: Great deflation of grape gas from the Niagara. Bravo!

 

Chip,

I think that this sentiment really called out on her character and put it all on the table...as well as giving her a chance to back out quietly becuase as I can attest, I stumbled accross this board after sending my hard-earned money to MIGS way back in February 2001! I had tears of joy when I saw their bubble burst...after the hard work of many people and their desperate attempt at litigation!

Its always "the hit dog that hollars" my grandmother used to say when I was growing up and I think this is a case of that "hit dog" not wanting to lay down and play dead.

 

There ought to be a rule. Just shut up about it and it will go away. They never learn.




Tom Nixon

 

Sorry Rose Donatelli Venneri but I do believe that La Salle University from LA was proven to be an illegal degree mill in a court of law. You don't have a broken leg to stand on. You are an academic fraud and if the law is just in your case then you are going to be punished for it. You should have gotten your money back from La Salle when the courts offered it to you. Another error in judgement made by an academic fraud?

P.S. Chip, if you want help with being nasty then give me a ring.

 

All,

I assume that this went to trial in November (2001?) , as stated in the article… does anyone know the outcome? Was she convicted of fraud? Was she sentenced? I can’t seem to find any follow-up to the original story.

Cheers,
Tony