An Interesting Distance Ed Email

Bill,
There is no reason that it can't be a degreeinfo.com member, or someone else. In any case I think it is a mixed up individual who likes to have the idea that he has some kind of power to have someone else think he can affect that person'e life. Very strange.
Personally I don't have anything to lose.
Earon

 

I wouldn't lose sleep over it at all.. Your right probably some disturb individual that wasn't held when he was young. Just beat him at his own game and ignore his messages (and if that doesn't work burn his house down! JK).

Best Regards,

Bill

 

A couple things:

First, I took the liberty of editing out the profanity. While I may have occasionally said off-color things in the past, I believe, as a moderator and co-founder of degreeinfo.com, that profanity doesn't have any place here, even if it's quoting somebody else.

Second, the message that Earon got sounds remarkably similar to ones that several of us got at the beginning of the a.e.d.spamfest last year. Nearly word-for-word in style, use of caps, etc. Those, too, were from an anonymizer, and, like others, I suspect it's one of the a.e.d. spammers.

Keep in mind that it's quite possible, with 1800 members and about 4 times that number of lurkers, that we could easily have one or more of the a.e.d. spammers registered here. We moderate pretty carefully, but if somebody really wants to read the board, and even to attempt to post, they will be able to do so, at least temporarily.

As to the "outing" thing, I pretty much agree with Bruce. If someone is publically listing a bogus degree on the Net, they've outed themselves. If one of our members brings it to a more visible state, there's no outing... it wasn't anything secret in the first place.

And as to the claim that "individuals here" were attempting to out someone, keep in mind that, again, with 1800 registrants, there is certainly a diversity of views, opinions, mindsets, etc. I can tall you that there is definitely no organized "outing" functions within the degreeinfo admin or moderation teams, but also that if something comes along and is newsworthy, it will probably get reported here.

Last thing: Some people have the misconception that anyone with an unaccredited degree who posts here gets attacked. I would strongly disagree with that statement.

Yes, someone attempting to promote a less-than-wonderful school will see a spirited argument ON THE ISSUES made by the poster, but the moderators do our best to ensure that debate happens on points, not degenerating to attacks on individuals. It's a fine line that many may not understand, but it's pretty sensible if you think about it.

For example: The statement
"Your alma mater is operated from a Mailboxes, Etc in South Dakota. There's no faculty and no learning. The degree is worthless."

is a strong statement, but it's a statement ABOUT THE SCHOOL and is not attacking the individual. As such, it meets our TOS.

On the other hand, a statement such as

"You're a dumbass with a worthless degree from a phony school, and you are just too stupid to recognize that the degree is bull----"

is a personal attack and would not be permitted.

Yes, this board tends to be populated by people who understand the value of accredited degrees, and who believe that most unaccredited degrees are of limited utility. But if people work to debate the points, and not to attack one another, there is no reason why people of differing viewpoints can't all share the same discussion space.

 

psychology of a spammer

Why do people spam?
for attention?
to disrupt?
because they can?
out of anger?
out of fear?
out of a feeling of powerlessness?
out of the need to feel superior?
Although it is hard to soar like an eagle when surrounded by turkeys. You can't let the turkeys hold you down!
All the best!

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: An Interesting Distance Ed Email

Yes, and thank you for that, Bruce. Janus Incubus greatly benefited from that bit of feedback you offered on the critical scene between Mark/Cohen and the police ... in fact, the novel (now published) depends on that final scene in terms of its thematic statement about the protagonist.

Several readers have commented to me about that scene, in fact ... and the statement it makes about Mark/Cohen's attitude -- even when faced by armed officers of the law.

I won't comment further on the scene Bruce helped me with ... it'd be too much of a spoiler to do so.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: An Interesting Distance Ed Email

Revealing the true identity of a person who desires, for one reason or another, to remain anonymous can also be damaging and considered "outing". For example, I am a member of another site where virtually noone would dare use their real name for fear of being dismissed from their place of employment. That site's TOS prohibits attempts to reveal the identity of another user (in fact, even a threat to reveal another user's identity is prohibited).

 

You (and others) may wish to read chapter one of this document (a report to congress on stalking -- chapter one covers cyberstalking):

http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojp/186157.pdf

I found this URL in the following article, which I also recommend reading:

"Stalking Disrupts Lives, Leaves Emotional Scars: Perpetrators are Often Mentally Ill," Lynne Lamberg, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 286, No. 5, pp. 519-523.

In the case of anonymizer.com, if you send the offending email to [email protected], and cite their TOS (which is on their site) they will set your email so that others cannot use their service to send you further emails through that service. The Russian anonymizer service may have a similar system/policy.

When I receive such emails now (which only occurs rarely), I immediately forward them to abuse@_____.__, citing the TOS of that provider. I do not respond to the person who sent the email.

I have also set my filters to catch a particular reforwarding signature that was used by one particular set of email abusers (it all could have been the same person, I don't know, and I don't particular care), so that their emails just go into my "read when you feel like it" box.

It is my belief that one day the particular character in question who is responsible for most of this will one day "slip up" and accidentally send an email from his real account, and will ultimately be held accountable. Until that time, the most one can do is form a personal policy about how to deal with these things, and stick to it like clockwork, and move forward.

 

when looking

to find someone hiding
where would you hide a leaf--in a forest
where would you hide a book--in a library
how does a woman hide her age--with jewelry
all the best!

 

Bill,
I can handle a little CRAP now and then but I find the obscenities to be totally uncalled for.

Howard

 

Bill, Howard and others,
Just a note to clarify that there was no intention on my part to offend anyone's values by posting the cyber-stalker's emails word for word. I can understand (now) how some can be offended by the obscenities.
Earon

 

One final note...

This started out as a discussion about a bizzare note relating to California Pacific University and ended up as a discussion of Columbia Pacific University / Columbia Commonwealth University.

Just to set the record straight, California Pacific University is approved by the California State Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education as follows:

http://app1.dca.ca.gov/bppve/school-search/view-school.asp?schlcode=3701571

"BPPVE School Detail - Effective Date: 6/28/02
School Name: CALIFORNIA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY Telephone: (760) 739-7730
School Code: 3701571 County: SAN DIEGO
Mailing Address: 1017 East Grand Avenue
Escondido, CA 92025 Physical Address: 1017 East Grand Avenue
Escondido, Ca 92025

The regulated programs listed below are evaluated as Degree granting programs (as defined by Article 8 of the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act), Non-Degree granting programs (as defined by Article 6,7 and Article 9 of the Reform Act) or Registered programs (as defined by Article 9.5 of the Reform Act.) Please contact the BPPVE if further clarification is required.

CURRENTLY APPROVED/REGISTERED PROGRAMS:
(If no programs are listed below, please contact the school for a current catalog of BPPVE-approved and BPPVE-registered programs.)

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
MA MANAGEMENT & HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION
MA MANAGEMENT & HUMAN BEHAVIOR
MBA HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION
MBA MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION"

Thanks,

Dave

 

We All Go through this...

From time to time I am sure that many of us who peruse this board for information, advice, etc. have experienced such sophomoric emails/threats. If you feal really threatened, then I suggest that you take some type of action to protect yourself....1st thing that I would do is to have my ISP block these types of emails from coming into your mailbox...or just don't open "Alibi" emails.

If you have something that you may feel that you want to address that may be detrimental....show a bit of respect/decorum and send a private email to one of the administrators prior to posting on the open message board.

Just my two cents!!

Mikey

 

What in the world are you talking about David? This thread started with Earon talking about an email threat concerning his CCWU degree.

 

Dave,

Hi. Thanks for asking. I was referring to the first few lines of Earon's opening message in this thread, which I've included here:

Thanks,

Dave

 

HEY!!!

I love those spam "university" emails, how do yous think me gotz me degrees

 

Hi David

Sorry, I looked at the body of Earon's message and the body of the email he received. I didn't notice the subject line. My apologies.

 

Hi. No problem.

Cheers,

Dave