Diploma Police?

Rules

I'm not Mr. "play-by-the-rules", but the problem is that when a masters or doctorate is difficult to attain, it contains value, tied to the degree (a purposely chosen word) of effort involved. Certainly this is a value based on mutual consent among the honorable. It is a game and occupation of the honorable.
When those whom are less than honorable wish to play, using the same prizes but without the effort, I must agree that they must play in a different sandbox. And if they wish to play in ours, they should really play by the rules or they will be found out.
Even without the efforts of folks on this site, these people are operating whilst sitting atop a timebomb, and it will go off. And even if not in their lifetime, how would it be if one's life work were to become questionable after death? What a waste! Take a few years. Enjoy the struggle and get a degree, and one that gives one entrance to the real party. You'll be glad you did.

(message brought to you by Committee of Reformed Losers. Dan Burrello, Chairman.)

 

We are all Greeks

[Shelly, Preface to "Hellas", early 19th century] from The World of the Ancient Greeks - Study guide 1 for CCL101-R (UNISA)

 

I think the original point that was being made was that some users of this group seem to spend their time tracking down people who use either fake or unaccredited degrees ( they normally don't draw a distinction) then subsequently set about to ruin the life of these people by notifying their employer.

The fact is some users DO this! We know because they open boast about it!

What moral or ethical standards motivates them we cannot be sure. Whether they are really concerned about people who do not hold the qualifications they hold is open to question. I would suggest that they simply get a big kick out of finding a 'sin' in someone else's life, throwing the 'first stone' and bragging about it!

 

Yeah, but around here we're all geeks, too.

 

It is important to remember that the people who "out" holders of diploma mill degrees are the messengers. The employers still make the decisions regarding the holders of the fake degrees, decisions they would have made already if they had all the information necessary.

It is also important to know that this activity could drift into tortious interference. In such a case, I'm not sure even the truth would be a sufficient defense.

 

yeap i know that someone whould find out.....

Look hi has a diferent opinion i knew hi was the anticrhist.

only "amused" (thank you )
understand what i want to say ?

and mr Jimmy Clifton i am also against death penalty.
there i said it now you can expose me

 

Hi Antichrist!

Speaking for anti-christs everywhere, I must take offense!

Mr. Baal Ze Vuv Esq. III (deceased)

 

What would be the basis for the lawsuit?

 

Amused writes:

> I think the original point that was being made was that
> some users of this group seem to spend their time tracking
> down people who use either fake or unaccredited degrees
> (they normally don't draw a distinction) then subsequently set
> about to ruin the life of these people by notifying their
> employer.
>
> The fact is some users DO this! We know because they open
> boast about it!

Nope. Not a single user does this.

You must be thinking of me. I know no other user does this. Why? Because in several cases I've posted such info to the board here, and waited for someone else to take corrective action. Except in the case of the grad student with the SRU degree, nothing further happened until I myself took further action.

But I do draw a distinction between fake and unaccredited degrees. I've never notified anyone's employer (the press has). And no one (with the possible exception of the SRU alumna, whose fate I don't know) has been fired as a result of my actions.

> What moral or ethical standards motivates them we cannot
> be sure.

To protect the values of degrees (especially distance learning degrees). If fake degrees are accepted, degrees become worthless. And we're dealing with a snowballing problem here. Remember the HR guy who thought a degree from "Bridgewater University, London" was legitimate, because he saw somebody sporting one on an official Web page of Emory University? If I hadn't done anything, it would still be there on the Web page. We need to raise the level of public awareness.

> Whether they are really concerned about people who do not
> hold the qualifications they hold is open to question. I would
> suggest that they simply get a big kick out of finding a 'sin' in
> someone else's life, throwing the 'first stone' and bragging
> about it!

Am I concerned about the holders of fake degrees? Somewhat; but there will always be people who will cheat where they can. I'm more concerned about the people who are opening the floodgates by appearing to recognize the fake degrees.

 

Voulgeor wrote:

> Come on, guys, I am not talking about doctors or
> mechanics!!!! I don't think anyone would try to get a
> neurosurgery degree and go at a hospital to perform !!!!
> (Institutions like that DON'T NEED YOUR HELP, BELIEVE ME.)

Think again. Just today we saw a news story about a "doctor" with fake diplomas on his office wall who was convicted in 2002 of "practicing medicine without a license and involuntary manslaughter":
http://www.wbir.com/News/news.asp?ID=17119

Then there was Dennis Roark, the fake MD who practised medicine, including surgery, for many years and was about to become a thoracic surgeon: http://www.freep.com/news/mich/qdoc3.htm

The lecturer at Emory University that I exposed is a "senior associate, clinical instructor" in "Cancer surveillance and control". Do you still think that "institutions like that" don't need my help?

 

Constructive dismissal to start with?? Changing the terms of the employment contract unilaterally which creates a condition akin to firing without cause.

Finally, depending on what specifics were required in a degree that the employee subsequently acquired, dismissal without cause.

My point was that what a jury decides in such a case would require foreigners to convince an American jury that their firing of Americans was reasonable in the circumstances. What do juries have to do with law?

 

"Constructive dismissal" seems to be a term used in British, Canadian, Australian, and South African, but not US law.

In the US, non-unionized employees in the private sector are employed "at will", and can be fired (or can resign) without notice or cause.

Juries do disregard the law and award money for wrongful dismissal; but the awards are overturned on appeal. E.g., the famous "Seinfeld" case, http://www.fairmeasures.com/whatsnew/articles/new224.html

 

I agree! It is ridiculous that someone who is engineering automobiles should have to be able to answer basic engineering questions. How dare these employers expect their employees to be competent. They bought a degree. What more can you ask for?

And I also agree that it helps to clarify this point by using stereotypical names to describe the perpetrators.

 

Mein grossvater was Hans. (Johannes)

Hans and Fritz are the Katzenjammer Kids, a lovely stereotype for Germans. I can think of worse.

 

Careful there Mark, if you keep contradicting Amused false remarks with facts then he's going to have to change his alias to Frustrated.

 

Actually, I thought you knew something! Two upper management people I had the opportunity to meet were named Hans and Dieter.

 

JerryClick wrote:

> To his surprise, they started asking him questions about
> advanced math, and some basic engineering questions. He was
> totally lost. He was also immediately fired. The story I heard
> was that they didn't even let him go back to get his personal
> stuff, they packaged it up for him.

If he was escorted out of the building, he should take that as a compliment. It means that even though he didn't know engineering or math, they thought he knew enough to sabotage the company.

 

I thought the same thing. So I checked out his/her other posts.

Most were about "Apostilling a degree," which is a favorite ruse of some "schools", particularly St. Regis.

There was one section of a post that was clearly a quote, but it was not attributed.

I took one phrase from this quote which I thought be somewhat unique:

"unsigned documents, the name of the authority which has affixed the seal or stamp"

I plugged it into Google. And guess what the first result was....St. Regis.

Hmmm... We have an anonymous poster who within his first ten posts "asks" about a scam often associated with St. Regis, then post an unattributed quote that appears to be from the St. Regis website, then complains about people with bogus degrees being exposed.

I can't imagine why you might think there is a hidden agenda.

 

Perhaps he didn't feel he needed to attribute it because he had written it on the SRU web page?

 

That's a very kind explanation. I feared that he was trying to legitimize a purchased faculty position (perhaps even a department chairmanship.)