What does it take to lower the classification of a less-than-wonderful school to that of "diploma mill" in your opinion? I am curious about the kinds of "single findings" that would effect this reclassification. (An obvious one would be the disclaimer "I understand that XYZ University is a diploma mill and provides no education to its customers" on a payment web page.) Here are some possibilities: use of the Ascension Island domain suffix ".ac" ("the only permanent inhabitants of any size are the feral cats and sheep, and the land crabs."); domain registration information masked through use of RegisterFly or some other protection service; direct contact via telephone with the university is impossible; mail cannot be sent directly to a university office: either no mail can be received by the school or mail is routed through a remailing service; the university claims to be accredited by a U.S.-based accreditor, but its primary accreditor is not recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Education AND is controlled by staff of the university. What do you think? What else comes to mind?
