Is Marcie Thorson still involved in the distance education field? The web site ( http://www.college-distancedegree.com/ ) that was listed as hers in Steve Levicoff's "unofficial" AED FAQ is now a site selling Mark Wilson's competitive book. Anybody know what's going on here?
Marcie and I used to share information or ask questions of one another from time to time, but it has been several years since the last communication. I don't believe there has been a new edition since her 9th, nearly two years ago. And her 800 number has been discontinued, too. I wonder if she figured out how to do this 'retirement' thing that I keep flirting with.
Interestingly, the title on the website is "College Degrees, Campus Free," which is similar to the title of the Thorson book: "Campus-Free College Degrees". The Wilson book was published in 1996 with the title "Campus Free Degrees," and was greeted with allegations that it was a poorly-executed knock-off of the Thorson book (with some sections lifted from Bear, as proven by several of John's "traps" -- e.g. slightly adjusted numbers and non-existent accrediting association). The book has more recently been published as "Distance Degrees" and apparently cleaned up, but it would be very ironic indeed if the old Thorson site is now selling the Wilson book (without making this clear anywhere that I could see). As for Bear and his so-called retirement, I wish he would get on with it so I can launch my own degree mill (Kennedy Mellen Reserve University, www.KeMRU.edu) in peace.
The domain name might have been snagged after it had expired -- here's the current WHOIS (which lists a creation date of March 19, 2001): Registrant: Distance Degrees, Inc. (COLLEGE-DISTANCEDEGRE-DOM) POB 209 OAKLAND, OR 97462 US Domain Name: COLLEGE-DISTANCEDEGREE.COM Administrative Contact: Vitale, Deirdre (DVY106) [email protected] ABCs of Distance Learning 237 SE 4th Oakland , OR 97462 (541)391-0168 Technical Contact: HostMaster (HO4485-ORG) [email protected] digiHOST.com, Inc. 10030 McNab Road Tamarac, FL 33321 US (954) 718-8000 Fax- - (954) 718-9256 Billing Contact: Wilson, Mark (MW2299) [email protected] AMERICOM INC. P.O. Box 209, 204 SE Second St. Oakland, CA 97462 541-459-9646 (FAX) 541-459-9535 Record last updated on 27-Jun-2001. Record expires on 19-Mar-2003. Record created on 19-Mar-2001. ------------------ Kristin Evenson Hirst DistanceLearn.About.com
