If administrators are going to delete a thread, it would be helpful if the action was noted. (Why not leave up the thread title but delete the posts?) In this case, I don’t know why the thread would be deleted. This forum deals with potentially illegal activities all the time and it's not like this "service" is anything new.
I have a fake degree from the eBay business discussed in the missing thread. This isn't a full diploma mill. The individual involved (eBay moniker deal4you) merely sells nicely printed diplomas and transcripts. The buyer provides the names of the university, degree, and major. My fake master's degree cost me about $20. I also received a transcript (full of impressive sounding, but fake, courses) but discarded it. The last time I looked, the price was about $40 or $50 -- still very inexpensive. The diploma is something you couldn't print yourself with a standard laser printer. It has some nice raised graphics. Presumably one would get the machine that does this as part of the business.
A little Q and A with the seller: Q. Your item description states the price includes over 500 templates. Are the templates based on copies of diplomas for schools in the United States? Is it the same for transcripts? A. “The templates are based on the different types of styles offered on the site. When a person orders a diploma you have to make the name of the school for the top and the seal with the school name in it. Most of the schools in the US are already made up. You cannot actually copy a school seal. Their seals are copyrighted.” Q. What about the signatures on the diplomas? A. “The signatures are done in-house in a way that they are not really legible.”
This is her website: http://www.diplomasandmore.com/ The style of my fake diploma is the "College Diploma Style 2" shown here: http://www.diplomasandmore.com/school.htm. That yellow and blue logo in the middle is the "raised graphics" I mentioned in previous post. Click on the picture of the diploma for an enlarged view.
I should have probably commented on the fact that the unauthorized use of a school's name on the diploma is also likely illegal. It's stange he would be concerned about the school seal but not the name.
as for my two cents, I took the whole thing with a laugh. I find these types of things interesting and related to our discussion. I feel in my opinion the admins here shouldn't worry and repost it. I didn't take it offensively and would not feel insulted if they put it back. The admins do a good job here and are pretty fair. If anyone was to blame the admins for leaving it, I would come to their defense. The CAT
Her approach is that she's making replacement diplomas. The buyer provides the names of university, degree, major. She just prints the diploma with the information provided by the buyer.
Personally, I'm pleased that the original thread was removed. It seemed to me that the person was just using DegreeInfo to advertise their offering. That is against the TOS no matter what was being sold.
I was hoping that Chip had removed the thread so that he could buy the business himself. This would give degreeinfo a nice revenue stream. And it would attenuate the holier-than-thou atmosphere here.
When I got into the office this morning, I took a look at my fake diploma (which is on my office wall). Three of the four signatures are illegible, But the fourth looks like Kim Wanton (Vice President for Academic Affairs). Not a bad name.