Chronicle story about degreeinfo.com

'Mail Bomb' Attack Threatens Web Site Popular With Diploma-Mill Watchdogs

Very nice. Also mentions the MIGS debacle.

 

I was disappointed with the 'Chronicle' story.

The story's most serious failing is that it never mentioned the events at alt.education.distance. The implication was that the recent attack on Degreinfo was an isolated event of little significance.

The reality is that this attack is part of a continuing pattern that extends back for more than a year. This is not the first distance education discussion group that these same individuals have tried to shut down with denial of service attacks.

The ugly little fact about distance education that everyone except Degreinfo wants to sweep under the rug is that a good proportion of the institutions offering it are scams and frauds. Quite likely a MAJORITY of them are.

Unless prospective students have places where they can run thir candidate schools past other people and get opinions, and where they can learn the often arcane details of accreditation and its international equivalents (which are rarely discussed in the commercially published DL guides), thousands of students and their subsequent employers are going to become victims of fraud.

The inevitable backlash won't be pretty. And it certainly won't enhance the value of the large investments that so many universities are making in DL today.

 

Well, it does mention aed, but very briefly:

Let's face it, they'd have needed an entire section to explain the self-righteous challenges, the tiny kernels of truth elaborated with snide innuendo, the vicious lies and libel, the multiple names used in postings through anonymous services, the copycats...

Hooray for David Linkletter, a program specialist with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, who "found the site particularly helpful during his investigation last year of the Center of University Graduate Studies Graduate College."

 

Hi Kristen. You are right. I was already indignant and kind of skimmed over that paragraph late in the story without it registering as it should. So I'll apologize to the author.

Nevertheless, I think that the real story here is not geeky stuff about domain name servers. What's important is the apparent attempt on the part of some organization to silence those ranging from Bear to all of us who dare to discuss the degree mills.

My point is that this is not just a matter of some irreverent student discussion group that managed to make an enemy. There is much more at stake than that. If students don't have the opportunity to learn about the subtleties of accreditation, about how to spot educational frauds and to seek the opinions of others before enrolling in on-line degree programs, lots of people are going to be hurt.

Ultimately, I think that Degreeinfo is taking the point in a battle that everyone from higher education through law enforcement to government regulators are studiously avoiding. That's why we have been attacked. And it's why I'm angry.

 

The article states that the discussion on DegreeInfo is lively, often sarcastic and sometimes insulting. Sarcastic?

 

Sarcastic? Us?

Ya gotta love it.

 

I liked the article in that it pointed out how valuable degreeinfo has become as a DL resource.

John

 

The Article:

http://chronicle.com/free/2002/03/2002030601u.htm

Very interesting article.

[edited to replace copyrighted article with link-bg]

 

I am glad that me again was able to obtain clearance to post copyrighted material in this forum...

 

I thought that as long as the source was credited, it could be posted?

Are you telling me that a civil law is violated if an article is displayed on an internet forum (in this particular instance)?

 

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