What are your thoughts on the ethics of distance education colleges and universities soliciting students through email. I do not want to call it spam as it may not always be useless information. However, I am referring to receiving information that was not requested and may be unwanted. This month I have received two emails from the University of Phoenix, one from Kennedy Western, and today one from Novus. I have pasted this email below with the phone number edited. I have never heard of this school, yet from their web site see that they are accredited by WAUS and are located in NY. If I am not mistaken, a college or university operating legally in NY needs to be Regionally Accredited. Do you have the DEGREE ,you NEED to Suceed. Earn or Complete your DEGREE ...NOW !!!!!! ONLINE *OFFLINE *ANYWHERE*ANYTIME Check out our web-site @ www.NovusU.org or, call and speak to a Program Coordinator 800-699-xxxx Thanks and have a nice day , Novus University Andy Kaufman may live in your eyes, but he is still a sexist!
They are not in New York, they are in Nevada. New York would close them down in about 40 seconds. WAUC is a scam, as is this school. Wes
WAUC has a mailing address in Nevada. As for Novus ... the domain name is registered with a PO Box in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with the administrative contact PixelStix, A Division of i-55 Internet, 206 East Thomas, Hammond, Louisiana 70401. i-55 Internet is incorporated in Louisiana; Novus is not. Seems to me that there was another Louisiana less-than-wonderful that was hosted by i-55 Internet, but I can't think of it right now.
They still have "Bienville" in the HTML source (as someone noticed in the previous thread started by Bill Gossett).
Ah -- got the possible past connection. St. John's University of Practical Theology used to be online at http://www.i-55.com/~stjohn -- this was space provided by i-55 Internet Services. They've since changed their name (to just "St. John's University") and moved to their own URL. Pixelstix is the Internet presence provider and website development division of I-55 Internet Services -- but they don't list Novus in their online portfolio. So ... did Pixelstix/I-55 provide domain name registration or other services to Novus? Or is Pixelstix/I-55 trying a little run at DL itself?
I get emails from a school which has no accreditation, yet always disguises it's message heading. So, it may peek one's interest and you realize it's just them again. BMAN
Interesting post Colleen. So how did you enjoy your Phd though Century? Did it help you in the real world? Cheers, George
George, I found it interesting and challenging. I'm still trying to figure out which part of this world is "real". I'll let you know when it is determined, if ever.
I've been a very vocal critic of Century, but when someone treats their situation with honesty and balance, I appreciate it. Colleen has certainly epitomized that. As for Andy Kaufman, I don't recall anyone who knew him calling him sexist. Wrestling women was a comedy act. It appeared he was loved by the women in his life, including fellow comedians.
I hate spam. However I receive unsolicited e-mail that seems to have been acquired by the sender after some research (attendance at conferences, member of associations, etc). Incidently I get junk snail mail (mostly credit card offers) from sources that evidently got my name and address from the CSUDH alumni association.
Greetings All, it's been a while... I too, abhor SPAM. Here's what I do to rid myself of unwanted facsimiles or email. I send the following message: IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE REMOVE (XXX) XXX-XXXX (or substitute e-mail address) FROM YOUR MAILING LIST Legal Notice Regarding Junk E-mail/ FAX Spam -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Unsolicited and/or commercial facsimiles or e-mails are not permitted at this address; immediately remove the number or address from which this facsimile or email was sent from any mailing lists you may be using. Your number or address has been recorded automatically and any future mailings to this account will result in your being billed for message transmission and storage services at a flat rate of $100.00 per message received. Your receipt of this facsimile or e-mail communication constitutes legal notice and acceptance of this policy. This is the only notice you will receive. Bills left unpaid after 30 days will be forwarded to your service provider and assessed a 50% late fee. After 60 days unpaid bills will be referred to applicable credit reporting and collection agencies. A second unsolicited email or facsimile to this account will also result in action against you under the terms of applicable U.S. law, including Title 47, Sec.227(b)(1)(C) of the U.S. Code, as follows: US Code Title 47, Sec.227(b)(1)(C): - "It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine" - A "telephone facsimile machine" is defined in Sec.227(a)(2)(B) as: - "equipment which has the capacity to transcribe text or images (or both) from an electronic signal received over a regular telephone line onto paper." Under this definition, an e-mail account, modem, computer and printer together constitute a fax machine. The rights of action are as follows. Under Sec.227(b)(3)(B): "A person or entity may, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State, bring in an appropriate court of that State -- (A) an action based on a violation of this subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection to enjoin such violation, (B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater, or (C) both such actions. If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated this subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection, the court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount available under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph." This constitutes you legal notice and acceptance of this policy. This is the only notice you will receive. __________________________________________________ It works every time!
Regarding Spam This may be the place to put in a testimonial for whitelisting -- which seems to be the word for Email service in which only senders you approve get through --everyone else gets an automatic reply, saying that to get through, you have to click one more time. I´ve been using such a service for a month, now, and love it. It works with my regular ISP and my regular Eudora software. It collects my Email every 10 minutes, passes through the ones on my whitelist, and puts the rest in an unverified folder, accessible to me, where it sits for 7 or 14 days, then is trashed. I´ve annoyed a few regular correspondents, I think, but truly, it has reduced Spam from 50 or more per day to zero. The service I´m using (www.mailcircuit.com) costs $15 a year; surely there must be more and, I would assume, every ISP will eventually be offering such a thing. John Bear in Barcelona
